The demand for sand
By Michael Johnson, Editor
Smooth white sand isn’t just something vacation goers look forward to getting their hands or toes on anymore. With the rise in hydraulic fracking use for harvesting oil out West, the demand for sand as a fracking component is also rising. The old ADM Benson Quinn grain elevator in Underwood looked like a nice spot to set up shop for the folks from Fox Run Transport, out of Berthold. The trucking company started to unload fracking sand at the site on Aug. 24. Scott Mele is the manager of the station. He moved to Underwood and found a home to rent with his three kids and wife. For the time, he is setup in a trailer on the site, but considers himself lucky to have found a house to rent. The timing allowed for Mele’s children to start school in Underwood on Wednesday. The new business unloads sand from train cars at the site. Mele said much of the sand comes from mines out of Minnesota. The sand is then placed in the white/cream colored silos on site for storage of augers directly into the semi trailers from the rail cars if needed. When sand is needed out west in the oil fields, an order is made, and Fox Run Transport sends out trucks loaded with sand from the silos to the fracking site. They deal with numerous oil companies.
