I grew up in WY, on a sheep and cattle ranch (where we were poor, but had all the animal flesh to eat that we might desire), and the invading upstream O&G folks

I grew up in WY, on a sheep and cattle ranch (where we were poor, but had all the animal flesh to eat that we might desire), and the invading upstream O&G folks and the coal-miners at Thunder Basin mines and living in Campbell county all seemed to make more than $50K/year in 1985. Last I heard, even "soft jobs" like trainer, in the Eagle Ford and Permian were making at least that much. And in North Dakota - these were on the order of $72K per annum (recognizing that the weird shift schedule doesn't come out to 165 hours/month), - https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&channel=cus&q=oil+drilling+jobs+in+south+dakota&ibp=htl;jobs&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj8vdGNnezjAhUPOq0KHe2bBC8Qp4wCMAB6BAgJEAE#htidocid=X_m5qxM-Fbu_lbzIAAAAAA%3D%3D https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&channel=c... And that's E1/E2, which you can get without a GED and graduate out of in less than 6 months in the field. I do NOT know what a diesel tech makes in Indiana, but the hydrocarbon extraction folks in the Rockies seem to do more than 'ok' for not having any sort of degree (which doesn't mean that they are not intelligent)