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No Oil in Alberta in 1913?

Dusty roads were more than a nuisance in Calgary in 1913. What to do? Dr. Stanley Mahood, the medical officer for health for Calgary, suggested the city spray petroleum on the dust in the interests of...

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Exporting gas controversial in 1913

Pipe for the Bow Island to Calgary pipeline, 1913. Petroleum pipelines have always been controversial. More than a century ago, an irate businessman took the federal government to task when it...

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Cars Did Not Rule Calgary Society in 1913

Road from Calgary to Banff, August 1913 With poor roads and few vehicles in Alberta, automobiles were a curiosity 100 years ago. Here are four stories from that time on the novel mode of conveyance....

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Place Names Hint At A History of Flooding

Calgary, Alberta from the Bow River on the Canadian Pacific Railway (Item part of: Eva Davies collection) (Photo credit: Wikipedia) This catastrophe in southern Alberta is not, as it turns out,...

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Drilling for Oil Dragged on Forever

Josephine, Bob, Mary, Joe and Charlie Brown at living quarters at Turner Valley discovery well, c. 1913. The quest for oil in Alberta in the early 1900s was disappointing. Natural gas was easy to find....

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Family Life on An Early Oil Drilling Rig

Josephine Brown at rig in 1914 Drillers Joe and Bob Brown were busy drilling 100 years ago, working 12-hour shifts on the Calgary Petroleum Products No. 1 well. It eventually discovered Western...

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Building A Wooden Oil Drilling Rig in 1913

Drillers on early wooden rig Before Alberta’s first oil discovery could happen, tough men built the rig and installed the equipment. Although imported as skilled American drillers, brothers Joseph and...

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Archie Dingman Made Famous by the Discovery Well

AW Dingman Calgary Petroleum Products Company was drilling a well 100 years ago, and it discovered Western Canada’s First Commercial Oilfield just southwest of Calgary on May 14, 1914. So why does...

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Floods Plagued Alberta’s Early Oil Patch

Oilmen’s shack in Turner Valley oilfield Tiny shacks fit with the lifestyle of the early oilman. Small enough to build quickly, light enough to load on the back of a flatbed truck and move to the next...

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Energy Pipeline Story Started in Turner Valley

Turner Valley pipeline construction c. 1920s The energy pipeline story goes back more than 100 years in western Canada. An early pipeline began delivering natural gas to Calgary in 1912 from the Bow...

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Flaring A Thing of the Past in Alberta

Flares at pit called Hell’s Half Acre in Turner Valley Flaring $10 of natural gas to produce $1 of gasoline common in the late 1920s. Most producers in the Turner Valley oilfield had no access to...

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Snatching Out a Fire in the Oilfield

Royalite No. 4 well on fire Sometimes success is almost too good. In 1924 the drillers at the Royalite No. 4 well in Turner Valley nearly quit work on their deep well. All their hard work had failed to...

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Protecting Canada’s Oilfield During WWII

Gas Plant in the 1940s World War II drastically changed life in Western Canada’s First Commercial Oilfield. Able-bodied men signed up for the war effort, leaving labour shortages in the oil industry....

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Gassed Eyes common in the early Alberta Oil Patch

Flares consumed vast quantities of dangerous gas Sour gas was a constant danger in western Canada’s first commercial oilfield. Toxic even at low concentrations, it was part of the workplace. The Turner...

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1927 Was Important for Alberta Oil

Royalite No. 4 well in 1924 The Royalite No. 4 discovery well in 1924 found a great new supply of sour natural gas and a massive amount of liquids. But it was not until three years later that the full...

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Health Care in the Early Oil Industry

Flares burned sour gas in Turner Valley but much of the hydrogen sulphide was just vented to atmosphere Spring floods were common in Alberta’s first commercial oilfield at Turner Valley. Most residents...

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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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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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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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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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