Carrie Kelly
Like many people, Joyce Hunt thought the history of the Alberta Oil Sands began when the Great Canadian Oil Sands began operating in 1967.
But after 30 years of research, which culminated into her recently released book Local Push – Global Pull: The Untold Story of the Athabaska Oil Sands (1900 – 1930), she found a much diff erent story.
“When I started my research, I was just curious about the industry and what was making the community tick,” Hunt says.
She and her husband moved to Fort McMurray in 1973. Hunt spotted a newspaper advertisement from 1916 encouraging the public to invest in the ‘real’ oil fi elds of the great north, an early date that surprised her. From there she spent countless hours looking over maps and corporate records on microfi che, slowly but surely learning more and more about the Oil Sands.
That research has been compiled into a 400-page book about the foundation of the industry.
“The accounts were exciting to read and it was a fun challenge to see what I could unearth. Even before the 1920s there were many companies attempting to mine the Oil Sands,” she says.
As she did her research, she saw the evolution of a better understanding of the resource.
“Even in those early years, it was realized that the Oil Sands were quite unique and were going to require alternative methods such as hot water separation,” Hunt says, pointing out the correlation to current insitu methods.
“There are common threads with what is going on today.”
Infrastructure in northern Alberta has always been an issue, and logistics were an impediment to early Oil Sands development. A century ago, equipment needed to be moved along the Athabasca River, a dangerous and even deadly endeavour for some.
Interest from other countries in the Oil Sands resource was just as evident near the turn of the 20th century as it is today.
Hunt found that Great Britain tried to infl uence early petroleum development in Alberta and Royal Dutch Shell tried unsuccessfully to gain sole concession of northern Alberta in 1917.
And while today the term ‘tarsands’ is mainly used by environmentalists to make a statement, Local Push — Global Pull shows that the resource has been known by several names.
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Hydraco was fi rst established as a hydraulic equipment and repair center with its focus being to service all types of equipment. Throughout the years we evolved into a hydraulic and heavy truck repair facility catering to the oilfi eld. Hydraco then made the move into fabrication of oilfi eld equipment dominated by the manufacturing of shallow gas coil tubing units. To help facilitate this new focus we had to expand our shop periodically from a small two bay shop to the 20,000 square foot facility we are currently using. Over the years Hydraco has evolved into a custom oilfi eld equipment manufacturer as well as a highly qualifi ed service facility that is supported by a self sustaining machine shop and a dedicated parts warehouse.
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Hunt traced the changing nomenclature over the years from pitch to asphalt, bituminous sands to tar sands and fi nally Oil Sands.
“People were struggling with the right term to call the deposits even a century ago,” she says.
Her book focuses on the period from 1900 to 1930 because she wanted to provide information that was otherwise simply not available.
“Alberta’s resources were turned over to the province in the 1930s. It marks a major turning point and information became more available after that point,” Hunt explains.
Eric Newell, former CEO of Syncrude, wrote the forward for Local Push – Global Pull, stating, “Development of the Oil Sands is a major Canadian success story that began pre-1900 and is continuing to unfold today. It ranks right up there in Canadian history with the building of the National Railway and is a story that needs to be told.”
To fi nd out more, visit www.
localpushglobalpull.com.
Class 2 – 3200 m Capacity
• Coiled Tubing Unit Fabrication
• Shallow Coil Tubing unit conversions
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2111 – 9th Avenue SW, Medicine Hat, AB T1A 8M9 403-526-2244 • Fax: 403-526-1074
www.hydraco.com
THE WESTERN CANADIAN PIPELINE | APRIL 2012 9
• All Types of Hydraulic Repairs
• All Types of Truck Repairs • Large Parts Inventory
Unearthing Oilsands history
41073705•04/30/12
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