The oil boom in Alberta started on May 14, 1914 when the Dingman #1 well in Turner Valley south of Calgary started producing naphtha at a depth of 1,158 meters. Drilling had started in 1912, when gas was reported to be bubbling up in a large slough (wetland).
It's interesting because it was producing an unrefined naphtha directly from the well. I read that people were actually filling their car's tanks at the wellhead because there was no gas station in town.
ReplyDeleteI love naphtha; it's second only to acetone on my list of most-useful-solvents.