Athabasca Chronology

By Peter McKenzie-Brown

• 1714. Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) fur trader James Knight records in his journal at Fort York (in what is now Manitoba) that Indians told him of a “great river” far inland where “there is a certain gum or pitch that runs down the river in such abundance that they cannot land but at certain places.”

• 1719. Henry Kelsey of HBC’s York Factor (near the western shore of Hudson Bay) notes that Cree Indian Wa-Pa-Sun has brought him a sample “of that gum or pitch that flows out of the banks of the river.”

• 1778. Fur trader Peter Pond reports “springs of bitumen that flow along the ground.”

• 1788. Famed explorer Alexander Mackenzie writes, “at about 24 miles from the fork (of the Athabasca and Clearwater Rivers) are some bituminous fountains into which a pole of 20 feet long may be inserted without the least resistance….The bitumen is in a fluid state and when mixed with gum, the resinous substance collected from the spruce fir, it serves to gum the Indians’ canoes. In its heated state it emits a smell like that of sea coal.”

• 1894. Dominion Government sends rig to drill for oil along the Athabasca River, hoping to find light oil below the oilsands. In 1897 the second well strikes gas and blows wild. The Pelican Rapids well burns an estimated 20 million cubic feet per day until killed in 1918.

• 1907. Alfred von Hamerstein, who claimed to be an immigrant German count, tells a Senate committee “I have all my money put into it (the Athabasca oil sands), and there is other peoples’ money in it, and I have to be loyal. As to whether you can get petroleum in merchantable quantities . .. . I have been taking in machinery for about three years. Last year I placed about $50,000 worth of machinery in there. I have not brought it in for ornamental purposes, although it does look nice and home-like.”

• 1913. Federal Department of Mines assigns Dr. S.C. Ells, an engineer, to investigate the sands’ economic potential. He proposes using it for road-paving, which becomes a marginal cottage industry.

• 1923. Assigned by the Alberta Research Council to study the oil sands, Dr. Karl Clark and his associate, Sid Blair, build the first bench model of Clark’s hot-water separation plant at the University of Alberta.

• 1925. Alberta Research Council constructs a pilot project using the process near Fort McMurray.

• Bitumount:

• 1925. R.C. Fitzsimmons founds International Bitumen.
1930. The company uses a combination hot water and solvent method to produce bitumen at a location called Bitumount. Plant soon falters.
• 1943. Alberta government makes plans to build an oil sands plant at the Bitumount site.
• 1948. Constructed for $725,000, plant goes on production. Operations end after Leduc discovery.

• Abasand:

• 1930. Max Ball and B.O. Jones of Denver organize Abasand, buying the Alberta Research Council's Fort McMurray plant.
• 1935. Company begins construction of a new plant, scheduled to go into operation by 1936. Forest fires and equipment supply delays hold up plant construction.
• 1941. Mining begins, and the plant processes 18,475 tonnes of oil sand to produce 17,000 barrels of oil. Fire destroys the plant, which is rebuilt.
• 1943. Federal government takes over plant as part of war effort.
• 1945. Fire destroys operation.

• 1950. Alberta government issues report on oil sands potential by S.M. Blair, who proposes that development could be economic for 20,000 barrel-per-day projects. He envisions such a plant costing $43 million and generating a 5 to 6 per cent annual return on investment.

• 1951. Alberta sponsors a conference on oil sands geology, mining, recovery, transportation and refining. Nathan Tanner, Alberta's Minister of Mines and Minerals, outlines provincial policy on oil sands leasing and royalties. A dozen companies take out 20,000-hectare exploration permits.

• 1959. Cities Service Athabasca constructs a 3,000 barrel per day plant at Mildred Lake. Plant extracts bitumen at a field facility, then upgrades at a pilot refinery.

• 1962. Great Canadian Oil Sands Limited receives approval for 30,000 barrel per day, $122 million plant. Financial difficulties ensue.

• 1964. Sun Oil Company takes over GCOS project, receiving approval to construct 45,000 barrel per day plant for $190 million.

• 1967. GCOS goes into production; final cost: $250 million.