Boomtown Aims to Become Home Town; Wyo. Community Wants Gas-Fueled Influx of Workers to Stay to Avert Bust
No one bothers to plant trees or flowers in this blight on the harsh Red Desert. Trailer homes line the sad, barren streets -- ready to be hitched up and hauled away at any time. The gravel roads are a symbol of impermanence in a boomtown so temporary many of the men who live here left their families back home.</br></br>"This is about the worst, ugliest city I've ever seen in my life," declared Shawn Klein, a gas field worker who had just pulled into town from the Black Hills in South Dakota.</br></br>The fields surrounding Wamsutter are sprinkled with thousands of natural gas wells, and new workers arrive every day, eager for big paydays.</br></br>But pessimism hangs over Wamsutter like the blanket of smoke in the town's only bar. As far as state officials are concerned, Wamsutter is a bust just waiting to happen.</br></br>In the West, boom-to-bust tales dot the landscape. Industries come and go, and sometimes so do the communities that helped drive commerce. State and local officials know that what goes up -- gas prices are near record highs -- eventually must come down.