When Wheat Failed, Oil Beckoned: Rural Desperation and New Dreams in Depression-Era North Dakota

This zine explores how economic desperation during the Great Depression reshaped the attitudes of North Dakota farm families, leading them to view oil development as a potential path to survival and long-term stability. By combining scholarly research with primary-source context, it highlights how personal hardship, state leadership, and broader economic forces converged to transform oil from a speculative curiosity into a serious alternative to failing agriculture.