Joe's Digging Service

About Joe's Digging Service

Williston sits right where the Missouri and Yellowstone rivers come together, a confluence that's drawn people to this stretch of the northern plains since the old fur-trade post stood nearby, and the ground along both rivers freezes solid by December, hard enough that the rivers themselves lock into ice thick enough to walk on by midwinter. Joe's Digging Service knows that frozen ground as well as anyone in town, and turns the same equipment that breaks it open in warmer months toward pushing snow once the cottonwood bottoms along both rivers go still under white. A driveway near the river breaks can hide ice under a thin new snow longer than one out on open prairie, since the moist air off the water holds a chill close to the ground. This crew works the low-lying streets near the confluence alongside the higher ground further out, clearing both but watching the river-bottom properties a little more closely once a thaw starts. By the coldest part of winter, the only soft ground left in Williston is usually the six inches under a fresh plow blade.