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61-481: Nodwell may refer to: Bruce Nodwell (1914–2006), Canadian inventor and engineer Nodwell Peaks , Graham Land, Antarctic Peninsula, Antarctica Nodwell Indian Village; an archaeological site in Port Elgin, Ontario , Canada Nodwell tracked carrier, a caterpillar drive truck made by Robin-Nodwell Mfg. Ltd.; created by Bruce Nodwell Robin-Nodwell Mgf. Ltd.; makers of

122-401: A "quiet administrative centre" if not for the discoveries made in the regions surrounding the city. The city became increasingly blue collar following Leduc as oil workers moved into the city. The city's population rose rapidly; Edmonton's 226,000 residents in 1956 was double that of the census ten years previous, while the city grew by an additional 55,000 by 1961. Edmonton has become one of

183-489: A boom in petroleum exploration and development across Western Canada . The discovery transformed the Alberta economy; oil and gas supplanted farming as the primary industry and resulted in the province becoming one of the richest in the country. Nationally, the discovery allowed Canada to become self-sufficient within a decade and ultimately a major exporter of oil. The discovery followed years of exploratory failures throughout

244-729: A contracting company known as Nodwell Brothers. During the Depression and WWII years, not only were jobs hard to find, but so were materials. The government imposed a cost ceiling of $ 10,000 on all new buildings. This also applied to service stations, which made it very difficult to construct a building big enough to repair trucks and tractors or car dealerships. In order to construct a new building, another would have to be taken down, just to obtain nails, which then had to be straightened by hand. Bruce's inventiveness and problem solving skills soon became apparent. He developed and patented an automatic rewinding mechanism for gasoline pumps (CA 454365) and

305-403: A later effort by Imperial to drill at Pigeon Lake resulted in another dry hole. The farmstead of Mike Turta, 15 km west of Leduc, was chosen as the drilling site. As Turta lacked mineral rights , Imperial initially paid him only $ 250 per year to lease his land. Imperial brought Vern Hunter, nicknamed "Dry Hole" as a result of his numerous past failures, to lead the drilling team. Hunter

366-489: A mountain in the Antarctic Peninsula Nodwell Peaks . As Bruce expanded the applications and product line, additional financing was required and he used a number of different companies including, North King Equipment Ltd., Bruce Nodwell Ltd. and in 1958, Robin-Nodwell Ltd. Bruce left Robin-Nodwell in 1965 to join his son, Jack Nodwell, in a new company, Foremost Industries. Foremost, over the years expanded

427-483: A pipe-wrapping machine for coating pipelines with tar paper in the field. Many problems related to construction work were solved by adapting other available equipment. Gradually the company continued to grow and diversify its activities including concrete bridges, trucking fleet, industrial camps and a machine shop known as Industrial Fabricators. Over the years, Bruce filed nine patents in Canada. In 1947, Imperial Oil made

488-496: A rumbling in the ground, while roughnecks opened release valves. The youngest member of the crew was given the honour of "flaring" the well. As the mixture of crude oil and gas spewed from a release pipe, the young man hurled a burning sack onto the mixture, igniting the fuel and sending flames 15 metres (50 ft) into the air. Imperial held a party in Edmonton that night in celebration of its achievement. The discovery at Leduc

549-534: A serious rival to Houston as the energy capital of the world. Leduc No. 1 and the Leduc-Woodbend oil field were designated a National Historic Site in 1990. The Leduc #1 Energy Discovery Centre opened in 1997 and features exhibits about Canada's oil industry, including artifacts, photos and oilfield equipment. In 2019, the centre was rebranded as the Canadian Energy Museum , with a broader focus on

610-451: A single row of wheels. The combination of the splice in the belt and the double sprocket allowed the use of any size or shape belt the vehicles needed. The "wide track" concept was born. They were now able to build a new and different type of machine. The first of these was a small 1-ton-capacity vehicle called the Scout Car. However, the oil industry need a larger capacity in order to transport

671-437: A test sent a geyser shooting out of the drilling hole and up half the height of the drilling derrick, covering a worker with oil. By this point, Imperial knew they had hit upon a strike. The company pressed Hunter to name a date when the well could come in. He later stated: "The crew and I were experts at abandoning wells but we didn't know much about completing them. I named February 13 and started praying." Imperial invited

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732-503: A while it became necessary for the company to try another market, making their first major sale to Western Geophysical in Alaska. This sale consisted of a complete geophysical crew, including five drill carriers, two recorders, a mechanics shop, kitchen unit and crew quarters, all mounted on the Model 110 vehicles. This crew operated successfully in severe muskeg conditions, spreading the reputation of

793-572: A youngster, his family lived in many small western Canadian towns, as his father was a grain elevator operator and trainer. They returned to Asquith, where his father ran a hardware store and later a Dodge car dealership in North Battleford. During this time, Bruce learned hands-on carpentry, electrical and mechanical machinery operations. Although he only took Grade 8 in school, he studied electrical apprenticeship by correspondence and became Saskatchewan's youngest registered electrician. However, this

854-474: Is called Nodwell Lake (Lat 67.4539, Long -135.3115). During the early days of geophysical exploration in the north, the Nodwell vehicles were often sent out onto lakes once the ice was believed to be strong enough. The tracks in the snow would speed further freezing for other equipment. A Nodwell 110 fell through the ice of this lake and from then on it was known as Nodwell Lake. The crew was able to quickly exit out of

915-655: The Leduc No. 1 discovery in Alberta, and the economy began to rapidly expand. As the oil exploration moved northward from the Leduc region, the oil men soon encountered muskeg, a wet boggy swamp-like matter through which conventional equipment could not pass. Even WWII tracked equipment either could not handle the requirement or did not have sufficient load capacities. Imperial Oil asked Bruce Nodwell to construct two vehicles they had designed to try to provide mobility over muskeg. These vehicles were unsuccessful, but Bruce had become aware of

976-505: The Northwest Territories . He had his staff determine the best location for the new well. The majority of the team favoured a triangular area that stretched between Calgary and Edmonton in central Alberta, up to Grande Prairie in the northwest. The company then set out to acquire surface lease rights to tracts of land in the region. Imperial acquired rights to over 810 km (200,000 acres) of land southwest of Edmonton by

1037-437: The "Escape Hatch" on the roof that was standard equipment. Canada Post issued a special stamp series in 1996 called Historic Land Vehicles. The Robin-Nodwell RN 110 is illustrated on an 88 cent stamp. Leduc No. 1 Leduc No. 1 was a major crude oil discovery made near Leduc, Alberta , Canada, on February 13, 1947. It provided the geological key to Alberta's most prolific conventional oil reserves and resulted in

1098-434: The 1920s, helped provide the geological key to unlock Leduc, and twenty years after the initial discovery at Leduc No. 1, dozens of oil-bearing Devonian reefs had been discovered throughout western Canada. Imperial had already begun testing for a second well, 2.4 kilometres (1.5 mi) to the southwest of Leduc No. 1. Leduc No. 2 was spudded on February 12, 1947. By May it had reached the same depth as No. 1 but little oil

1159-526: The Leduc-Woodbend field peaked in 1951 and exploratory drilling of the field had largely ended by 1955. The field produced 4.7 million barrels (750,000 m ) of oil in 1948, surpassing total production of Turner Valley within one year. The field peaked at over 20 million barrels (3,200,000 m ) annually between 1953 and 1956 before gradually declining. Overall, the Leduc-Woodbend field produced over 250 million barrels (40,000,000 m ) in its first 50 years of operation. Leduc No. 1 itself

1220-505: The Model 110 throughout the geophysical industry both in Canada and Alaska. This model became the standard for geophysical work in the muskeg country of Northern Canada and Alaska. The Nodwell 110 was ultimately so successful that over 1,500 vehicles of this style were manufactured by the industry. Several Nodwell vehicles were delivered to the US Antarctic Research Organization and in 1961 a Place-Name survey group named

1281-408: The Nodwell tracked carrier; a company founded by Bruce Nodwell Nodwell (UK), a British tractor company; see List of tractor manufacturers See also [ edit ] [REDACTED] Search for "Nodwell" on Misplaced Pages. Well (disambiguation) NOD (disambiguation) Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with

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1342-465: The Royalite No. 4 well blew in with a mammoth fire that burned uncontrolled for nearly a month. This find was made at a depth of 1,140 metres (3,740 ft). The new discovery resulted in the drilling of hundreds of wells in the region over the next 20 years. The first major crude oil discovery at Turner Valley was made in 1936 at a depth of 2,080 metres (6,820 ft), the deepest well in Alberta at

1403-622: The Tracked Truck. However, everyone in the industry knew Bruce, because of his close contact with existing and potential customers, so they called the vehicle the "Nodwell". Later, the vehicle became known as the Nodwell 110 , indicating its payload in 100-pound units. Even though the Model 110 was now proving to be a more successful operating unit, the Canadian marketplace was reluctant to purchase many Nodwell vehicles due to memories of past failures. For

1464-508: The area around Wizard Lake , immediately south of Leduc-Woodbend. The Pembina oil field , the largest in Alberta, was discovered in 1953 near the town of Drayton Valley . Canada produced only 21,000 barrels (3,300 m ) of oil per day in 1946, most of it in Turner Valley, but consumed ten times that amount. Alberta's annual total production in 1946 was 7.7 million barrels (1,220,000 m ) from 416 wells. Over ninety percent of

1525-411: The discovery of the nearby Pembina oil field the year previous. Similar communities followed, including Swan Hills , which incorporated as a town in 1967. The already intense rivalry between the cities of Calgary and Edmonton increased following the discovery at Leduc No. 1 as both communities attempted to proclaim themselves the "oil capital of Canada". Edmonton, it was said, would have been only

1586-470: The earth's surface. They convinced the company's technical committee to attempt one more deep drilling effort. Imperial's board of directors reluctantly supported the new effort, but made it known that this well, initially known as Wildcat No. 134, would be the company's last-chance effort. Imperial's chief geologist, Ted Link, was among those who believed oil could be found at a much greater depth and had already met with success drilling at Norman Wells in

1647-799: The end of 1947 there were 31 operational wells in the area, 24 of them owned by Imperial Oil. The depth at which Leduc No. 1 struck oil was designated the Devonian D-2, formally called the Nisku Formation , while Nos. 2 and 3 had reached the Devonian D-3, or Leduc Formation . However, it was still many years before the nature of the Devonian reefs was fully understood. In 1949, the majority of wells drilled were dry; only 26 of 107 wildcat wells drilled that year became producers of oil or gas. Other major discoveries followed Leduc. A second field called Woodbend

1708-572: The end of spring and began surveying the area for the best place to begin drilling. Seismic tests produced two possible candidates: one near the village of Leduc and another farther to the southwest near Pigeon Lake . Though the Pigeon Lake spot was viewed by geologists as a more promising location, the team chose Leduc due to the location's proximity to major roadways and the North Saskatchewan River . This decision proved fortuitous, as

1769-584: The geophysical "seismic" drilling rigs. Bruce's next step was to build a tracked trailer, since a method of steering a large vehicle had yet to be located. The powered trailer had tracks 40 inches wide, its own engine, and could carry a five-ton load through muskeg. Although it had its own power, it was navigated by the smaller Scout Car, which was attached to its front hitch. Imperial Oil, responding to this breakthrough in muskeg vehicles, bought 30 powered tracked trailers and 30 Scout Cars. The company, Bruce Nodwell Ltd., then began working on designing improvements to

1830-414: The highest number of millionaires in Canada, per capita. The provincial capital of Edmonton , immediately northeast of the discovery, became a major petroleum production centre. A farming community with fewer than 900 residents in 1947, Leduc grew to become Alberta's 13th largest city, while several towns, including Devon and Swan Hills , were founded to support workers in the oil and gas industry. Oil

1891-665: The late 1940s, when Imperial Oil brought a tin-pot World War II refinery down from Whitehorse to process crude from Leduc and the other new fields. Now the beneficiary of more than $ 25 billion in investment, this 582-square-kilometre region hosts 40 large companies and many small ones. Together they operate refineries and petrochemical plants, an upgrader, pipelines, service companies and numerous other interdependent businesses. However, while many petroleum-related workers and facilities are now located in Edmonton, corporate offices remained in Calgary. Many oil companies had placed their offices in

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1952-481: The majority of which existed only to bilk unwitting citizens by selling shares in companies that owned no land and had no intention of drilling for oil. In fact, oil was not discovered initially, but rather naphtha – a form of natural gas – and Calgary settled into an economic recession that accompanied the outset of the First World War. A second major natural gas discovery brought renewed interest in 1924 when

2013-561: The nation's oil requirements were imported from the United States. One decade later, Canada was producing sixty-five percent natively, despite a three-fold increase in consumption. Overall production had increased to nearly 144 million barrels (22,900,000 m ) from 7,390 productive wells, and Alberta produced 400,000 barrels (64,000 m ) per day with the capability of doubling that total. The discoveries led to rapidly increasing estimates of Western Canada's reserves. The region

2074-417: The nearby Atlantic No. 3 well aided provincial growth as the derrick collapse and resulting inferno made international headlines and alerted the world to Alberta's oil strikes. Alberta's population in 1946 was 803,000, compared to neighbouring Saskatchewan 's total of 833,000. At the 1951 census, Alberta's population had grown to 940,000 while Saskatchewan remained stagnant. The 1951 census also made note of

2135-434: The need for large tracked vehicles. His first designs, that were to be either tracked or wheeled, were called North Kings and 16 were sold, but even they did not have enough mobility or durability. Bruce then concentrated on a vehicle design using soft tracks and single rows of wheels to support them. In 1955, Bruce's invention of the double sprocket made it possible to drive wide tracks and also keep them in place while using

2196-400: The powered trailer so that it would be a self-sufficient unit. The successful trailer was to be modified to include a cab and a steering differential device to make it into a self operating vehicle. Eventually, after a few unsuccessful attempts at finding or building a steering mechanism, the problem was solved by modifying an Oliver Tractor steering differential. The new vehicle was first called

2257-473: The prevailing opinion was that Alberta had been a desert at that time so such reefs were unlikely to be present. It was later shown that much of Alberta was actually a marine basin fringed by reefs and lagoons during Late Devonian time and was therefore very likely to host porous, hydrocarbon-containing reefs like those at Norman Wells. The understanding of the Norman Wells field, which Imperial had located in

2318-450: The product lines to encompass both tracked and large-tired vehicles with load capacities from 5 to 70 tonnes. The company pursued international markets throughout the world, with its major success being in the USSR and Russia where over 700 vehicles with load capacities of 30 tonnes were delivered. In 1976 Foremost Industries recovered the trade name "Nodwell" when its rival folded. In 1970, he

2379-481: The province, all of which failed to yield significant quantities of oil. By the mid-1940s, the company neared the decision of abandoning the search for oil in the province in favour of focusing on the production of synthetic gasoline out of natural gas. While the majority of the company's efforts drilled down only into Cretaceous levels where the Turner Valley strike was discovered, some of Imperial's geologists believed that greater reserves could be found deeper below

2440-400: The province. The planned town of Devon , located west of Edmonton, was founded in 1949 by Imperial Oil with the assistance of the province to provide housing and services for workers of the Leduc-Woodbend oil field. Drayton Valley was the province's first model oil town as the government organized the rapid growth the hamlet of less than 100 people experienced beginning in 1954 following

2501-437: The province. Imperial Oil had spent millions of dollars drilling 133 dry holes in the previous years as only minor discoveries were made. Leduc No. 1 discovered that oil was trapped in what became known as the Nisku Formation and resulted in numerous major discoveries across the prairies . Leduc No. 1 produced 317,000 barrels (50,400 m ) of oil and 323 million cubic feet (9,100,000 m ) of natural gas before it

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2562-399: The public to witness as the well came in. However, the machinery broke down on that morning. The crew worked most of the day trying to fix the machinery, while some of guests began to leave, fearing another disappointment. Shortly before 4 p.m., the crew finally cleared the wellhead and the 500 people who remained despite the bitter cold bore witness as Leduc No. 1 came to life. People felt

2623-566: The site near Turner Valley . The trio gathered four other investors, formed the Calgary Petroleum Products Company, Ltd. and began developing the region in search of oil. The company drilled three wells beginning in 1913, and on May 14, 1914, the third struck a significant reserve at a depth of 820 metres (2,690 ft). Excitement reached a fevered pitch in Calgary once word of the Turner Valley strike reached town. Over 500 oil exploration companies were formed within days,

2684-471: The southern city following the Turner Valley discovery and made no effort to relocate even as drilling and exploration moved north. Consequently, the oil money flowed through Calgary. By 1967, the city had more millionaires than any other in the country, per capita, and more cars per person than any city in the world. Today it is possible to imagine Calgary - which has the planet's greatest concentration of energy-related knowledge in its downtown core - becoming

2745-604: The time. The Turner Valley oil field reached a peak production of 10 million barrels (1,600,000 m ) in 1942, four years after it was recognized as the largest oil field in the British Empire . In the 30 years following the initial discovery of 1914, oil companies spent over $ 150 million on exploration and development but found no major reserves of note. The provincial government resorted to subsidies and tax relief for companies to encourage further exploration. Imperial Oil alone had drilled 133 wildcat wells throughout

2806-458: The title Nodwell . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Nodwell&oldid=1087096323 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Bruce Nodwell In 1970, he

2867-452: The transformation the province was undergoing, as the urban population outnumbered the rural for the first time in the province's history. Alberta's population grew by another 400,000 throughout the 1950s. The Government of Alberta attempted to manage growth and hoped to prevent the risk of so-called resource towns from turning into ghost towns once the oil boom passed them by, as had happened to turn-of-the-century coal mining towns across

2928-487: The world's premier operations and service centres for the petroleum industry. It has fabrication and manufacturing capacity that would be the envy of virtually any other oilfield service centre. The University of Alberta is a jewel in the city's crown, and it has been a centre of oilsands research since the 1920s. The area is Alberta's refining and petrochemical centre – notably the "Industrial Heartland" northeast of Edmonton. That industrial region has grown organically since

2989-519: Was a small find, and close to the limits of Paleozoic rocks, where conventional wisdom of the time held that oil was unlikely to be found. Imperial was left to choose whether to begin production of this small find, or drill deeper and risk having the byproducts of drilling ruin the company's ability to complete a well at the depth of this find. Imperial chose to continue drilling. When drilling reached 1,536 metres (5,039 ft), into Devonian rocks, tests showed promising results. On February 3, 1947,

3050-547: Was actually a stroke of good fortune because geologists had chosen the location on the basis of theories that were later shown to be incorrect. The search for large oil reservoirs in Alberta had been ongoing for decades because the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin that lies beneath the majority of the Canadian Prairies was known to be prime ground for the formation of petroleum and natural gas, and it

3111-441: Was decommissioned in 1974, and was part of the Leduc-Woodbend oilfield that has produced over 300 million barrels (48,000,000 m ) of oil total. Billions of investment dollars flowed into Alberta and were followed by massive immigration to the province following the discovery. Alberta's two major cities saw their populations double within a few years. Calgary grew into a major financial centre and within two decades had

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3172-441: Was discovered by Imperial north of the initial find. The two fields were combined to form the Leduc-Woodbend oil field, and within a decade it was the third largest oil field in Canada. Imperial discovered a larger field northeast of Edmonton near the village of Redwater in 1948. Gulf Canada discovered a major field near Stettler in the central part of the province in 1950. In 1951, Texaco made two significant discoveries in

3233-506: Was estimated to have 72 million barrels (11,400,000 m ) recoverable in 1946. That figure was increased to 3 billion barrels (0.48 km ) in 1957. It is currently believed that Western Canada has as much as 77 billion barrels (12.2 km ) of oil in conventional reserves (i.e.: excluding the Athabasca Oil Sands ), though the vast majority of that total is unrecoverable by current technology. Drilling activity in

3294-408: Was found. The company worried that Leduc was only a minor oil field, but decided to continue to drill deeper. At a depth of 1,640 metres (5,380 ft), the well broke through into a reservoir even larger than the one at Leduc No. 1. Leduc No. 3 came in on the same day, May 21, 1947, ushering in Alberta's oil boom. Within weeks, more than a dozen companies were drilling throughout the region, and by

3355-609: Was known to exist in Alberta for many centuries. First Nations peoples used it to pitch canoes and to act as a medicinal ointment. Pioneer settlers to southern Alberta in the late 19th century noticed that an oily film occasionally covered pools of water, and that the air had unusual odours at times. In 1911, Ontario -born settler William Herron identified the nature of the odours from his time working in oil fields in Pennsylvania . He convinced Calgary businessman Archibald Dingman and Member of Parliament R. B. Bennett to visit

3416-679: Was made an Officer of the Order of Canada , Canada's highest civilian honor, "for his contribution to the opening of the Canadian North through his inventions and development of various types of tracked vehicles". A mountain in Antarctica " Nodwell Peaks " and a lake in NWT bear his name. William Bruce Nodwell was born on his father's homestead near Asquith, Saskatchewan, May 12, 1914. His unusual birth certificate read Section 22, Township 36, Range 9 west 3rd. As

3477-454: Was made an Officer of the Order of Canada, Canada's highest civilian honor, "for his contribution to the opening of the Canadian North through his inventions and development of various types of tracked vehicles". A mountain in Antarctica " Nodwell Peaks " was named in recognition of the vehicles in use by the various Antarctica Research institutions. A large lake in Canada's North West Territories

3538-450: Was operational until 1974. During its 27-year lifespan, the well produced 317,000 barrels (50,400 m ) of oil and over 323 million cubic feet (9,100,000 m ) of natural gas. My generation knows if we didn't have Leduc and its consequences, we probably would be living elsewhere. — Peter Lougheed , Premier of Alberta 1971–1985 The discovery of Leduc No. 1 led to a rapid population boom in Alberta. The 1948 blowout of

3599-662: Was skeptical that the new site would lead to success. He expected it would fail like previous ventures and that Imperial would then limit its focus to Alberta's natural gas fields. The drilling site was a true wildcat – no other wells drilled within 80 kilometres (50 mi) of Turta's farm – and Imperial was willing to go as deep as 2,100 metres (6,900 ft) in this search. Drilling of Leduc No. 1 began November 20, 1946. Several drill stem tests down to depths of 1,200 metres (3,900 ft) showed only traces of oil and natural gas. As drilling passed into Mesozoic depths, tests indicated large quantities of natural gas and some oil. It

3660-584: Was the time of the Great Depression in western Canada. Crops were drying out, prices for grain were low, farmers were being forced off the land, businesses were failing and there were next to no jobs. Bruce started doing odd jobs using his practical skills and hard work. He ran a two or three person contracting operation that took work wherever they could find it, which included all of southern Saskatchewan and Alberta. In 1936, he and his wife Phyllis settled in Calgary, Alberta where he and his brother, Jack, formed

3721-583: Was unlikely that such a prime setting would have produced only the two oil fields that were known to exist in 1946. At that time, geologists believed that rocks of Early Cretaceous age had the greatest potential to contain oil and natural gas, and the Leduc area appeared to be a good location from which to reach those rocks. Earlier discoveries in Texas and at Norman Wells in the Northwest Territories had shown that oil could also be found in Devonian -age reefs, but

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