Roads

In 1914, roads through most of Alberta were often little more than gravel tracks or wagon trails. Roads in Turner Valley were essentially non-existent, consisting primarily of one-wagon-width trails with cut-outs so that teamsters could pull in to allow another wagon to pass. The system was generally adequate for the sparse agricultural settlement through the valley, but it quickly proved to be entirely unsuited for the traffic generated after the discovery of oil in 1914. Moving heavy equipment on such narrow tracks was difficult. Following rain and snow melt, a frequent problem during winter chinooks, the roads became mud-choked and impassable quagmires. Temporary relief was provided by creating a gravel roadbed, but even these improved roads wore out quickly under the heavy loads passing over them. Better, more permanent roads were desperately needed.

During this early period of development at Turner Valley, both the provincial and federal governments believed that the oil and drilling companies should make their own arrangements for transportation, likely from the belief that these roads would benefit the companies more than

other residents. In 1939, an attempt made to have oilfield roads classified as mining roads, which were eligible for government grants, failed.

Calgary Petroleum Products managing director A. W. Dingman established the Good Roads Association in 1917 and served as its president. Organizations such as this were common throughout Canada and the United States in the early decades of the twentieth century as concerned motorists raised money for road improvements in order to prevent governments from introducing automobile taxes.

Following the success of the Royalite No. 4 well in 1923 and 1924, Royalite began using caterpillar-treaded vehicles, graders, trucks and other heavy machinery to create a network of all-weather roads around both the Turner Valley gas plant and the Turner Valley town site. By 1926, a network of better quality roads had been developed, but transportation and travel through the area continued to be difficult. Vehicles and equipment still frequently bogged down on muddy and unstable roads, often requiring horses to pull them out.

In 1927, the Oil Operators’ Association (now the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers), an influential oil industry lobby group, raised $7,300 to make critical road repairs. Although some local merchants contributed to this campaign, local farmers and ranchers were often hostile to the oil and gas industry’s road-building efforts. Initially they feared the impact roads crossing their land would have on their livelihoods, but the benefit of having dependable, year-round roads brought many around to support the endeavor.

Up until 1927, most of the equipment brought into Turner Valley, including steam engines and boilers, well casings and derricks, was transported by rail to Okotoks and then by horse-drawn

wagons to Turner Valley, a process that could take days. As roads improved, the oil companies acquired truck fleets, improving the speed and efficiency of transportation. For a time, the Turner Valley plant had its own stable located in a large tent with built-in stalls and mangers. This was later replaced by a garage for company vehicles.

Road improvements would occur in the 1940s as the Turner Valley plant’s products became essential to Canadian contributions to the Allied war effort. A final solution for the road problems, however, was not found until 1955 when the municipality rebuilt Highway 22 through Turner Valley as a wide gravel road.