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Mineral-rich land keeps Gillette, Wyoming prosperous
Houses weren’t the only thing in short supply when Earlene Hastings moved here in 1972. Like most, though, she came here to make a buck, not for the amenities.
Story and Photos
By JAMES HAGENGRUBER
Of The Gazette Staff
Back then, tents were needed to house all the workers. There was little pavement. Attractions for families were few. During the holidays, even celery at the city’s only grocery store could be hard to find.
"Sometimes, you’d stand in line at the store for hours it would be so packed, but that’s how you got to know people back then," said Hastings, who grew up in a small town in the foothills of the Bighorn Mountains.
Civility and manners could also be scarce. There were enough fights, spousal abuse and binge drinking to prompt a researcher to coin a new term for the myriad social problems found in boom towns: Gillette Syndrome. One of the darker days was in 1981 when a local worker went berserk and crushed several cars and an apartment house with a D-9 Caterpillar.
But a funny thing happened since those dusty, hard-living days. A core group of residents and civic leaders decided to use some of the energy wealth to make Gillette a nice place to stay.
A giant, state-of-the-art library has been built. A shining new campus is opening for the community college. Firefighting and law enforcement services are top-notch. Children have access to high-quality schools, free swimming pools and a skate park.
Local residents are even proud of their landfill, particularly its high-tech recycling facility. And the county probably has more paved roads than any other in Wyoming. Although there’s still no shortage of drive-through liquor stores and greasy spoon restaurants, this community of 25,000 now has a martini bar and a downtown cafe that serves vegetarian fare and fancy espresso drinks.
Most cities across the nation and region are struggling, but Gillette is in the enviable position of having enough money to pay its bills and provide high-quality services for its citizens. Campbell County has also largely underwritten Wyoming’s rare standing as a state with a budget surplus.
The county’s $2.6 billion assessed valuation last year accounted for about a quarter of the entire state’s mineral, real estate and property wealth according to Wyoming Department of Revenue data. Campbell County’s taxable valuation is about five times higher than millionaire-rich Teton County.
Hastings said Gillette has changed dramatically in 30 years. She and her husband have weathered two previous boom and bust cycles, but things appear more stable now. More people seem to be staying for the long haul. These are the people who are investing in the city, she said. They are the ones who helped pay for the new $2.8 million building for the Children’s Developmental Services of Campbell County, of which Hastings is the executive director.
The program provides child care for low-income families and a variety of free services for disabled children. It moved into a new building in 2000. The facility is the envy of social workers across the region – it has even drawn envious visitors from as far away as Massachusetts.
For Hastings, the best sign of Gillette’s evolution can be seen in her own family. Her daughter left Gillette to study interior design. She then moved to Denver.
"She definitely wasn’t going to move back to Gillette," Hastings said.
Later, she married and had a baby. Suddenly, Denver wasn’t so appealing. The 27-year-old woman and her new family have returned to Gillette.
"You can’t beat the quality of life here," Hastings said.
Nonetheless, Gillette continues to have a hard time shaking its reputation as a dusty, hard-scrabble haven for mobile homes and roughnecks. Some residents refer to it as the state’s ugly duckling community.
The coalbed methane industry has slowed in the past two years, but the Campbell County economy will continue to help buoy the state. Few are predicting a bust anytime soon.
"The economy itself will remain pretty stable, maybe a slight increase," said David Layden, finance director for the city of Gillette. "The coal mines are holding back on additional major projects until there is a clear picture on the effect of national clean-air legislation. But coalbed methane appears ready to start up again as the national economy picks up."
Coalbed methane drilling sparked an economic boom in the late 1990s, but much of the future drilling is expected to occur west of the county, closer to Buffalo and Sheridan. Gillette’s economy continues to sparkle, however.
"We’ve had the biggest year ever in the mortgage finance area and the biggest year ever for construction," said Irma Kerns, vice president of the First National Bank of Gillette. "There’s a lot of new people still moving in."
Coal remains the bedrock of Campbell County’s economy. Last year, 332 million tons were dug here, accounting for nearly a third of the nation’s supply, according to county statistics.
In fact, if Campbell County were a sovereign nation, it would be the sixth-largest energy producer in the world, according to Peter Fox, spokesman for Kennecott Energy, which operates three mines in the county.
The profit margin on coal is thin – it sold for about $5.90 a ton last year, down from about $8 a ton a decade ago. Although prices have dropped, the nation’s energy needs continue to grow. Coal’s importance will only increase as new technologies are developed to reduce pollution, Fox said.
"The outlook for coal is solid and steady," he said.
The same is true for Gillette, Fox said. The city’s investment in schools and services will continue to help it attract skilled workers and entrepreneurs, which will help keep the economy vibrant.
Fox is one of the recent newcomers. And like many others, he arrived here shaking his head. "Never once in a million years did I expect to be here," he said.
To his surprise, Fox liked the town. It reminds him of Billings in the early 1980s – a time when he worked as an editor at The Gazette.
"There’s a real strong sense of community here and that’s what Billings had," Fox said. "I have never been in a place where there is so much investment in children."
Although Gillette might still be considered an ugly duckling, it’s hard for other communities in Wyoming not to be a little bit envious of the Coal Tiger. This is especially true in the case of education and high school athletics. Gillette’s sports teams are well-equipped and well-trained, leading to New York Yankee-style accusations that money has helped make them powerhouses.
"No question about it, we hear it all the time," said Steve Hughes, a City Council member and former basketball and soccer coach. "A lot of it is because (other teams) are jealous."
The schools have jaw-dropping athletic facilities, but parents are still asked to bankroll much of the travel and other expenses, Hughes said. The teams are successful because they have a lot of support from the community.
Hughes, 58, owns Landmark Appliance in Gillette. He was raised here and has considerable pride in the town. Hughes said it’s important to remember that the town was once among the poorest of a poor state. "When I was in high school, Gillette got its very first school bus," he said.
Not everything about Gillette glitters. Like most other cities in the West, Gillette has a methamphetamine problem. The gas development has not always meshed well with the county’s cattle ranchers. The growth has also overloaded local roads – the main drag, Highway 59, makes 24th Street West in Billings look almost tranquil.
In recent surveys, residents have pointed to traffic as their biggest headache, said Clint Beaver, Campbell County chief of staff. Road construction is already under way and more is being planned. The improvements will come at considerable expense, but energy wealth makes paying the bills a bit easier.
"We’re able to pay cash for capital expenditures," Beaver said.
A lack of affordable housing is also a problem – particularly rental units. Many newcomers stay in trailers or in a motel. Senior citizens and those on fixed incomes have been hit the hardest.
Violet Richter, a retiree, moved from Harlowton to Gillette in 1989 to be closer to her son, who is employed by the railroad. Richter pays $572 each month for a one-bedroom apartment at a federally subsidized apartment complex for senior citizens and the disabled. Richter is able to afford her rent, but everything else in town is getting too expensive, she said.
"I get by, that’s about it," she said. "It’s getting terrible."
Kim McCuin manages the Pioneer Apartments, where Richter lives. Many seniors wait up to two years for an apartment at the facility, McCuin said. More units are being built, but McCuin expects the shortage to continue. It’s just one of the quirks of living in a boomtown, said McCuin, who moved here two years ago with her family from Nevada. Her husband works in a coal mine.
"We lived in a camper when we first moved here," she said.
McCuin and her family were lured to Gillette by the promise of good wages – local miners typically earn more than $50,000 a year – and were surprised by the quality of life. Although the city is still working to diversify its economy and shake its dusty reputation, the prospects for continued growth are high, said Susan Bigelow, executive director of the Campbell County Economic Development Corporation.
"There’s jobs here," she said. "And I expect we’ll continue to grow at a good rate."
Gillette was never a community that yielded its charms easily. That’s changing, Bigelow said, but the city will probably always remain focused on one thing: striking it rich.
"You have to look at our history," Bigelow said. "Nobody moved here for the scenery."
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Copyright © The Billings Gazette, a division of Lee Enterprises.
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