As he took a break from mowing his back lawn, Anderson noted the big oil discovery just outside of town by Grand Rapids-based Wolverine Gas and Oil Corp. barely has impacted the daily routines of Sigurd's residents.

"There might be one or two more big trucks driving through now," Anderson said, as if noticing for the first time the white tanker as it moved down the road. "But with the wallboard plant here, we're already used to that kind of thing."

Tiny Sigurd, a rural community in Sevier County of barely 450 residents, is sitting atop what many believe is a major oil find. If it pans out, the discovery could bring new growth to an area that long has struggled to gain even a semblance of the economic vitality enjoyed by the state's more urban communities. Not since the gypsum and wallboard plant came to town decades ago has Sigurd been this hopeful.

"We can't wait to see what is going to happen," said Malcolm Nash, Sevier County's economic development director. "Our biggest concern, though, centers around the uncertainty - how big and how quickly the development will occur."

So far, Wolverine's discovery has generated more gossip and speculation than prosperity.

The new oil field brought 38 new jobs to the Sigurd area but most of those most positions are filled by employees of Wolverine or the subcontractor that is drilling its wells. The roughnecks working the wells primarily live in an on-site camp set up by the company.

Kitty-corner from Anderson's home, Dave's Country Trading Post is one of the few area businesses to enjoy a boost from Wolverine's presence. The small store, which sells gifts, gas, guns and bait, operates a lunch counter where oil workers can grab a cheese omelette for breakfast or a cheeseburger and fries for dinner.

The presence of even a few dozen oil workers is enough to provide a significant increase in revenue for a small-town diner in a place like Sigurd.

"Ever since those oil workers started to show up [almost two years ago] this place has been going crazy," said Sean Cadol, who works behind the counter as a short-order cook. "We're seeing 15 to 20 people come in here every day who aren't local. It's enough to keep you going all day long."

Billion-barrel hopes: Wolverine's discovery was a shock to the nation's oil industry.

Decades ago, Chevron intensively explored the area but eventually gave up. "They were out here thumping and bumping the ground for years and never found anything," Anderson said. "This new find surprised just about everyone."

Wolverine's is producing a combined 1,500 barrels of oil per day from two wells, which are gushers by Utah standards. The company estimates the field holds somewhere between 100 million to 200 million barrels. But that's not what has the oil industry excited.

"I honestly expect that we'll find another 10 fields out there and that this is going to be a billion-barrel province," Wolverine exploration manager Doug Strickland said in early May. "The potential is enormous."

Spurred by Wolverine's success, oil companies and speculators flocked to a BLM oil-and-gas lease auction in late May to grab up exploration rights to thousands of acres of land. Leases that started out at a minimum $2 an acre in some places were bid up above $1,000, the BLM said.

Even if the Sigurd-area discovery eventually turns out to be what is known in the oil and gas industry as a "one field wonder," it is almost guaranteed that some level of exploration activity will continue for at least the foreseeable future.

And that alone seems to be driving an emerging real estate bubble of another sort.

Several homes along Sigurd's main drag sport for sale signs - at least one is advertising that its price was recently reduced. In the Sevier County seat of Richfield 10 miles down the road, however, homes suddenly are in short supply and building lots are commanding premium prices.

Real estate agents blame the shortage on the speculative fever generated by Wolverine's oil find.

"A lot of the local people are buying up rental units, believing if we're going to have an oil boom apartments will be in heavy demand," said Jean Ward, a realtor at Coldwell Banker Preferred Properties in Richfield. "We're also seeing a lot of out-of-state people acquiring building lots. Some are trying to get the mineral rights that go along with those properties."

Ward and others fear the rising prices and declining inventory of affordable dwellings in Richfield eventually will price local residents out of the housing market.

"We're running out of homes in the $90,000 to $135,000 range that most everyone who lives in Richfield can afford," said Chad Nordgren, another Coldwell Banker real estate agent.

Bracing for a change: If the oil boom happens, Sevier County can expect thousands of new jobs and millions in new spending. And that means a strain on community resources such as water, power, telecommunications, school systems, police and the courts.

Yet many of the residents of Sigurd and elsewhere in Sevier County believe that an oil boom will produce far more benefits than complications.

"If we see a boom then eventually the benefits flowing from those oil wells will pick up the slack and provide the resources [tax revenue] to deal with any problems that come along," said Dave Fordham, who along with his wife, Neoma, has owned Dave's Country Trading Post for the past 17 years.

Thanks to the nation's current energy crisis, though, Sevier County may not follow the dreaded pattern of rapid population growth that has accompanied other oil booms of the past.

The reason: Oil and gas exploration activity is at a peak throughout the country and drilling rigs are in short supply. And that shortage may rein in the pace of development in the Sevier County area and give leaders time to ponder, plan and zone and budget for any growth that might occur.

"We've been pretty lucky in that regard," said Nash, the economic development director for Sevier County. "We may have a little time to think about and plan what is going to happen and even prepare for a bust after the boom."

Sitting in the shade of his porch, Sigurd town councilman Anderson pointed out that Wolverine is the one company now drilling in the area and by default will dictate the pace of development. He can only hope the vitality long sought by Sigurd and other rural communities in Sevier County is poised to finally occur.

He has a reason to be cautious.

While Wolverine has drilled seven wells on its property capable of producing oil, the latest well turned out to be a dry hole.

Letting his foot drop from the porch rail, Anderson nodded toward an open hay field across the street from his home.

"When the gypsum and wallboard plants first came to town there was talk that field over there would be subdivided so homes could be built," Anderson said. "That kind of growth never happened."