The Bakken formation is a shale oil play that lies along the 49th parallel, crossing the international boundary between the United States and Canada. While oil has been forming underneath the surface for 360 million years, it has only been discovered and capitalized upon within the last century. It is one of the youngest, yet the second largest, sources of oil and natural gas extraction in the United States.

Bakken arrived late to the energy boom, with many extractive technologies already in use across the Americas and the world. This caused a murky and crude "gold rush" as corporations and individuals flocked to the region, creating extensive infrastructure before regulations could be properly implemented.

The plains that were once frequented by migratory birds and dotted with prairie potholes are now speckled with oil wells and spanned by transportation infrastructures that divide the land into parcels of ownership.

Boom towns sprang up around the energy commodities while disputes of mineral rights and international trade negotiations emerged over illusory borders.