The Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation of North Dakota is benefiting from a boom in energy development on the Fort Berthold Reservation.

The million-acre reservation sits atop a portion of the Bakken Formation, where the U.S. Geological Survey estimates 4.3 billion barrels of oil can be recovered using existing technology.

"If they knew there was billions of barrels of oil here, they would never have put us here," Spencer Wilkinson Jr., the general manager of the Four Bears Casino, the Associated Press.

The tribe and its members have received more than $179 million in lease payments, with additional revenues coming from royalties and taxes, the AP reported. Even more money is on the way once additional wells are drilled on the reservation.

"This is an opportunity for us to help ourselves as much as we get help," Chairman Marcus Levings told the AP.

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American Indian reservation reaping oil benefits (AP 2/24)