The Leduc-Woodbend Oil Field - Devon, Alberta
Posted by: 
wildwoodke
N 53° 20.529 W 113° 43.951
12U E 318092 N 5913813
This Alberta Heritage Marker is for the Leduc-Woodbend OilField which was discovered in February 1947 near Devon, Alberta.
Waymark Code: WM6QPW
Location: Alberta, Canada
Date Posted: 07/09/2009
Views: 4
Text from the plaque:
"The Leduc-Woodbend Oil Field
In the summer of 1946 seismic crews criss-crossed land around Edmonton and Leduc. Imperial Oil had chosen this area for one last try at finding oil in a large oil field. Sending sound waves deep into the earth, the crews then recorded the squiggly patterns the waves made as they traveled hrough the different rock formations. The were looking for a tiny pattern that suggested the tiny pores in those rock formations could be full of oil.
Near Leduc, the though they had found just such a pattern. Imperial moved a crew in, and started drilling on 30 November 1946. For the next two cold, windy months the drilling continued. One thousand feet down, then two, then three, then four. Finally, just below five thousand feet, the drillers started to see signs of oil in the drilling mud cuttings.
Imperial decided to run casing in the well. Then, the company not only took the risky step of predicting the well would blow in, but invited guests to come and watch it! On the chosen day around 4 in the afternoon, the well blew in with a rush and a roar. It was 13 February 1947, and it was oil.
That well, Imperial-Leduc No. 1 had struck the vast Leduc-Woodbend oil field. It was the first in a series of postwar oil and natural gas finds that would redefine Alberta's economy. Ant it all started near here one cold day in February, 1947."