Fort McMurray, Alberta
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T0SHEA
N 56° 43.534 W 111° 22.581
12V E 476969 N 6286901
If it sounds familiar, that may be because Fort McMurray is where Alberta's Tar Sands are.
Waymark Code: WMGAYM
Location: Alberta, Canada
Date Posted: 02/07/2013
Views: 4
Fort McMurray was not long ago Alberta's new boomtown, new oiltown. Now a city of well over 60,000 oil workers (well, it seems like everyone there is in the oil patch, but, I guess someone has to flip the burgers), until the oil sands became economically viable, it was a sleepy, cold little town a zillion miles from nowhere.
In the course of forty years or so it has become the economic, residential and industrial centre of the Tar Sands. Incorporated as a city on September 1, 1980, its current official designation is that of an urban service area, though it is still commonly referred to as a city. It is situated 435 kilometres (270 mi) northeast of the capital city of Edmonton on Highway 63 and about 60 kilometres (37 mi) west of the Saskatchewan border.
The first large plant in the oil sands was opened in 1967 by Great Canadian Oil Sands (now Suncor). It wasn't until the 1970s that more plants opened, and Fort McMurray's population began to spiral, reaching 6,847 by 1971 and 31,000 by 1981. It has since more than doubled again. It is now a moderate sized city with a lot of money, and, as a result is home to all the "modcons" a cosmopolitan visitor could ask for.
Yes, it's all about the oil. Without the proximity of the oil sands (the Syncrude plant is only 35 km. north), Fort McMurray would still be the sleepy little village it was 50, 75 and 100 years ago.
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