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Kev Locality of OilA aga, Drayton Volterv tl mile* so* ol £ntwfstW; «ca a ilsr 100 apparent fatara. Ifei femr «oiw»cate and garage supplied the limited roquiremesJtsof district formero, tie bosh waiter* who cat timber .? tho winter saw-and occasional hunters who danto te search ol big game. Today, Drayton Valley I* the key locality in an oil area of tremendous size and producing^ potential- Before 1920, the hamlet was named Power House hut the postmaster changed the name to the quieter, more placid* Drayton Valley. If the postmaster were alive today, he would twice about changing from the dynamic name of Power House.t*“It's a little too much for us, remark Mri and Mrs. P. A. Anderson, «a they watch huge oil trucks park in front of their ■mall neat cottage and oilfield supplies pile .tip in the hurriedly erected warehouses across the street Mr. Anderson, 76, has lived in the Drayton Valley district since 1918.The retired couple are overwhelmed by the boom which has struck their hamlet but plan to continue living in Drayton Valley because of their long association with the district.least three times the size of Red-water, Canada's largest oil field to date.Another reason for the enthusiasm over Pembina is the astonishing success drillers have had. Only one of 10 wells drilled since last June has failed to provide production, About 15 more wells are being drilled now, with exploration not expected to reach Its peak until this summer.cate, CorkwtB farmers, ;■ peer'. latecutters WA ahAky verandah beneath a flashy dfest aKnouBelng the atfea;'Ofilc».': of the - Pembina Gas sad Electric Company.A trailer camp has been set up ter the employees of m active drilling company and the Wildca t Motel, with seven ‘’tourist cabins,” converted from available buildings, accommodates 35 to 40 persons nightly. In the bush, around the drilling rigs, arc possibly another 350 trailers, for accommodation is hard to find in this area. At the beginning of the development^many farmers provided room-and-board for the drillers but most of the oil workers now Jive in their trailer camps or at Tomahawk orEntwistle.plan to sen their bujdneaww, kCr^-aod 'Mm' Tocteav; who sen • a of merchandise, including i. hottseheSd utensil* and have fount that their business has not increased greatly ateee the coming of the oil workers. Most of the workers buy theirmain supplies in Edrooatcn and many of their customers want articles they do not sea, like bottles of milk and skeiton keys. He and his wife plan to sell out and move to the comforts of the city, but in' the meantime, they sit, looking out their store window at the strange, frantic activity In the streets outside. We just like to sit here and watch the goings-on,” Mrs. Tucker says. “We wouldn't want to miss any of this.”To halt ' the building of suchThere is only one telephone line temporary structures as thoseThe excitement began last Junewhen Socony-Vacuum ExplorationCompany with participation bySeaboard Oil Company, Honolulu Oil Corp., Merrill Petroleums Limited, and Canadian Collieries Limited, completed Pembina No. 1, bringing in an initial potential of 456 barrels a day of high qualitylight oil.The discovery was the first made in the Cardhim sand formation in Canada. It alerted Canada’s oil industry to the potential of this area, which soon will be Canada’s largest oil producing area, of a size and potential comparable to any oil producing region on the continent.Drayton Valley today is a bu3y place. From Entwistle, 69 miles west of Edmonton on the Jasper Highway, trucks load supplies and equipment and unload crude oil. (The road from Entwistle is heavily travelled, with coal being trucked 125 miles from Morinville to supply the boilers of the drilling rigs, cement, and pipe being hauled in, and tank trucks bringing the oil out.The Cardlom Sands formation’s boundaries are not yet known definitely but an early estimate gives 350,000 acres a# encouraging for oil exploration. Recent estimates place the recoverable oil reserves in the area between 782,-000,000 and 952,660,000 barrels. The Pembina field alone is 55 miles* tang and 10 miles wide, atDelivery of the oil is a problem, because of the distances involved and the remoteness of the district. But three companies Intending to build pipe lines from the Pembina field appeared recently before the Petroleum and Natural Gas Conservation Board. Construction of a tank farm on a 17-acre site near the settlement of Pembina is well advanced.Drayton Valley’s immediate development has been what might be expected when oil exploration crews move into a tiny settlement with no facilities for serving an oil boor. Rough shacks have been thrown up offering 24-hour welding and supplies of drilling cement. A group of expensive trailers are on sale near roughly constructedout of Drayton Valley. Some of the oil companies have radio-telephones for communication and light aircraft have been used frequently for transporting drill cores, key personnel and urgently needed equipment.| A bank soon will be established in temporary quarters in one of the local stores and a hotel, lumber yard, machine shop, and other businesses are planned. In the town’s large community hall, movies show twice weekly, since one showing was not enough to accommodate the crowds. The truck which brings groceries into Drayton Valley now is making two or three trips * a week instead of the leisurely once-weekly schedule it previously followed.Much new Investment is being 2,000. attracted to the hamlet as the development continues. Some Devon businessmen are establishing branches of their operations in the new town. But the few Drayton Valley businessmen are not likely to be sharing in the business created by oil development. Most are older people, not equipped either financially or physically to handle the volume of business which is appearing.Like Mr. and Mrs. Jack Tucker, who operates a small variety #rtore,built In the hamlet recently and to permit Drayton Valley to develop in an orderly fashion, the Department of Municipal Affairs, which administers the surrounding Improvement District No. 77, will supervise the growth of the whole area. No buildings of permanent nature will be allowed In Drayton Valley or the adjacent settlements of Violet Grove and Rocky Rapids unless permits are obtained. The Town and Rural Planning Branch of the Municipal Affairs Department has completed a tentative plan for the new town and will advise on development so that the town will grow according to modern planning principles. It is estimated that the model town will have eventually a populationANSWERS TO QUICK QUIZ5. On the average about 3 million tons a week. 3. 366 a week. 1. Henry Hudson—Hudson river and Hudson bay. 4. The Fort Royal Habitation, at Lower Granville, N.S. 2. Commodity imports in 1953 totalled nearly 31.4 billion.Rheumatic heart disease has been responsible for more than 60 per cent, of all diseases of the heart.C’AT[ivy ^tR•ife-gPembina No. 1, the discovery well . *i.The Tuckers watch aH the ‘‘goings-on” . . .Mr. and Mrs. Anderson talk by a cement truck which almost hides their modesthome* ? a aDrayton Valley, a hamlet of approximately 160 persons, Is being transformed swiftly into a bustling oil tqwh.'Aathe' phbtegrapte'show, oil development, which started last June,■ has quickened the pace oflife In the centre; New warehouses, caf^, motels, stores and banks ‘are occupying temporary emergency quarters until per-manent structures can be14 • • i . * . .built to suit the requirements of the plan designed:;io Vhrip •. Ihrayta yaBey ['develop'; lt;**V a':: jposslMy;:;.-.'; £60$
Newspaper Details
Baldur Gazette
Baldur, Manitoba, CA
Thu, Apr 15, 1954
Page 3
Full Page
Clipped by
Chinook A.
AB, USA 27 Apr 2020
Other Publications Near Baldur, Manitoba
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