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Gambling On The Future
Oil and gas rights were offered for sale on a half section of land 100 years ago this week for a mere $1000 – or about $20,683 in today’s currency according to the Bank of Canada inflation calculator....
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When the Resources did Not Belong to the West
Black Diamond Oil Co share – Glenbow Archives NA-2343-2 “Common-sense consideration of what is now the just and proper course” was the rallying cry 100 years ago this week in the Calgary Herald on...
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When the Gas Went Out
Gas pipelines supplied Calgary consumers On January 30, 1932, an accident provided a graphic example of southern Alberta’s heavy reliance on natural gas. Just as temperatures plummeted to -30°F, there...
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Oil Patch Dangers
Safety was a daily challenge The Workmen’s Compensation Board’s insurance premiums give the government’s assessment of safety in the oilpatch and comparisons with other occupations. In 1925, for...
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How Operation Brimstone helped improve the horrible stench of Alberta’s early...
Building the scrubbing plant in 1925 Rotten egg smell was an unfortunate by-product of the oil and gas industry in Turner Valley from the earliest days. Even the Dingman discovery well’s sweet gas...
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Brutal Busts Plagued Alberta’s First Oilfield
Workers jobs were insecure Oilpatch booms often happen overnight. Busts can come just as fast and are terribly brutal. In 1930 Royalite had 26 rigs working in the Turner Valley field. By Stampede week...
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Dictatorial Power Over Oil Industry
Armed guards and a fence topped with barb wire protected the Turner Valley Gas Plant during WWII War made for strange bedfellows. At least in the western Canadian petroleum industry during World War...
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Winter Relief in Turner Valley
Turner Valley Gas Plant in Winter Winter woes today are nothing compared to 100 years ago. Most Canadians had to invest a month of hard labour to put up enough wood to heat their homes during the cold,...
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The 1924 Wonder Well in Turner Valley
The 1924 Wonder Well after the fire A single well in Turner Valley blew wild and caught fire in late 1924. For a time a pillar of fire illuminated the night sky – a torch testifying to the discovery...
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Rail and Oil Always Linked
Oughton Brothers Tanker Truck, Turner Valley, 1939 Railroad to Oilfield Started Immediately! Financiers from New York and London announced their plans to build a rail link from Calgary to the Turner...
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Fracking at least 100 Years Old in Alberta
“Nitro shooting” enhanced production at the Dingman No. 1 Discovery Well in 1914 They called it “shooting” 100 years ago – the process of opening up the geological formations to entice the oil to flow...
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Boomtimes made the future look fine
The oil boom at Turner Valley in the late 1920s looked like it would last forever. Alberta’s first scheduled air shuttle began operations in August 1929 when a Rutledge Air Service plane lifted off...
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Walking The Pipelines
Pipelines replaced loads of barrels “It was wonderful,” Alex McKellar recalled decades later of his years walking pipeline between Turner Valley and Calgary. “I never felt better in my life, and did...
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Harsh Realities of Early Pipeline Construction
Pipeline trenchers saved a lot of backs. Back in the 1920s, laying pipeline was less than glamorous work. Geoff Andrews remembered working on the bull gang, doing whatever job the foreman dictated. He...
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Sour Egg Smell was Deadly
Sulphur plant equipment, 1950s A rotten egg smell was an unfortunate by-product of the oil and gas industry in Turner Valley from the earliest days. Even the “sweet” natural gas from 1914 Discovery...
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Boosters Battled Realists a Century Ago
Investors lined up to part with their money in 1914 A war of words erupted a century ago between two competing Calgary newspapers. One buoyed up the oil industry as it unfolded, the other urged...
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Job Factory in the Canadian West
Turner Valley Gas Plant When a Royalite Oil Company recruiter showed up in Winnipeg, Jim McInnis jumped at the chance. Previously a grain buyer, Jim moved to Turner Valley to escape the grain dust...
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Americans in the Early Alberta Oil Patch
It took all kinds of people to development the oil patch. PAA 85-51 – 1&2 Many Americans helped develop western Canada’s first commercial oilfield. John Norman was young when he arrived in Canada...
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Success in the Face of Failure
Prominent citizens of Calgary at 1914 Discovery Well in Turner Valley filling barrel with liquid from wet gas well Why do some project fail and others change society? Drillers struck smelly natural gas...
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Kid Play in the Oil Patch
The petroleum industry is more than just tough men. Kids wandered the oilfield too, having fun, making up games, and chasing the dogs and cats and each other. Fred McArthur was a young girl in the...
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