History of The Petroleum Industry in Canada (natural Gas) - Early Times

Early Times

A small natural gas industry in Central Canada had already been around for several decades, but the most significant event in the industry's early history was probably the drilling of a well near Medicine Hat in 1890, in search of coal for the railway. The well encountered a large flow of natural gas, and this prompted town officials to approach the Canadian Pacific Railway with a view to drilling deeper for gas. The resulting enterprise led to the development of the Medicine Hat gas field in 1904. The community took advantage of the natural resource and became the first town or city in western Canada with a gas utility.

Natural gas service began in Calgary somewhat later, when A.W. Dingman formed the Calgary Natural Gas Company. He drilled a successful well in east Calgary, laid pipe to the Calgary Brewing and Malting Company site and began providing gas to the brewery on April 10, 1910. As in Medicine Hat, gas mains soon provided domestic fuel and street lighting.

In a parallel development Eugene Coste, who had been a pioneer in the development of Ontario's natural gas industry, moved west. He drilled the locally famous Old Glory gas well near Bow Island, Alberta, in 1909. In 1912, his Canadian Western Natural Gas Company built a 280-kilometre pipeline connecting the Bow Island field to Lethbridge and Calgary. It augmented the Dingman enterprise in Calgary, which was unable to supply the growing demands of the city. By 1913, several other towns in southern Alberta boasted natural gas service from the Canadian Western system. Coste's pioneering enterprise provided fuel to nearly 7,000 customers.