In 1893, at the suggestion of Mr. McConnell and Doctor Dawson, the Dominion government began experimental borings for petroleum in the Athabaska region.
The importance of actually ascertaining by means of boring operations, the existence or otherwise of economically valuable bodies of petroleum in the region had been recognized for many years, but the remoteness of the region and the apparent impossibility of immediately utilizing any discoveries which might be made, had hitherto prevented the necessary experiments. A vote of seven thousand dollars was obtained from Parliament for the purpose of initiating this work, the arrangements for which were entrusted to the Geological Survey. After careful consideration, it was determined that a bore-hole should in the first instance be sunk at Athabaska, at which place the depth of strata to be passed through in order to reach the horizon of the “tar sands” had been estimated by Mr. McConnell at approximately from twelve to fifteen hundred feet.
On October 24 the bore-hole had reached a depth of one thousand and eleven feet, when it was found necessary, owing to the incoherent character of the rocks, to stop work pending the arrival of more casing. This was placed in the hole during the winter, but the drilling itself could not be resumed till the spring, as the great quantity of gas met with rendered it dangerous to keep a fire in the derrick or anywhere in the vicinity of the well. This first boring was unavoidably abandoned at a depth of one thousand seven hundred and seventy feet, without reaching the probably oil-bearing beds at the base of the Cretaceous formation but within a short distance of attaining these beds.
During these particular boring operations, according to the engineer in charge, at three hundred and thirty-four feet a large flow of gas was struck. The roaring of the gas could be heard half a mile away from the works. The foreman who had seen the big gas well at Kingsville, Ontario, stated that the flow of gas was as strong as in that well.
The second and third of the experimental borings in search of petroleum in the northern part of Alberta were begun early in the summer of 1897 near the mouth of Pelican river on the Athabaska and at Victoria on the Saskatchewan below Edmonton, respectively. The sites selected for these borings were determined largely by the knowledge of the stratigraphical succession and the thickness already gained in the first bore-hole at Athabaska. The borings at Pelican and Victoria had reached depths of eight hundred and twenty and seven hundred and five feet respectively before winter. Operations were resumed at both places in the spring of 1898, as soon as the requisite arrangements could be made. Work had been suspended at Pelican in 1897 because of a very large flow of natural gas, under great pressure. It was hoped that most of this gas might blow off during the winter, and it was found, in fact, to be considerably reduced in amount when the locality was again reached by the engineer in charge in 1898. Work was resumed, but additional and very strong flows of gas were soon met with in the underlying beds, and after exhausting every method of mastering them and continuing the boring, it became necessary again to suspend operations.