The High Price of Oil
Author Alexandra Fuller set out to write about Wyoming's oil rigs and came across young Colton Bryant resulting in The Legend of Colton H. Bryant. It is a touching, true story of a young man's love of his country--especially his native Wyoming, his cowboy existence which changed when he decided to work on the oil rigs to support his young family-- as his father and grandfather had.
Twenty-seven year old Colton Bryant fell to his death on the job in Feburary 2006. According to the author, if the company, Ultra Petroleum, which had record revenues of $592.7 million, had invested two thousand dollars for railings, Colton Bryant would be alive today. Accidents like Colton's are not unusual--more than 80 have died since 2000 working in the oil industry in the western U.S.