Leduc #1 Was a Winner
| On a bitter afternoon in late January 1947, Steve Cosburn, another geologist, was at the well when drilling reached 1,532 meters. Examining samples of dolomite limestone penetrated by the drill bit, he noticed a clear, yellowish liquid in the limestone pores. Oil! A few days later, on February 3, when drilling had reached 1,544 metres, a geyser shot from the drill pipe, covering Al Desnoyers, one of the roughnecks, with a mixture of mud and light crude oil. After 133 dry holes it was a welcome shower. There were no longer any lingering doubts- Leduc #1 was a winner. Ten days later, as Imperial was holding a reception at Edmonton’s Macdonald Hotel to celebrate bringing the discovery well into production that afternoon, farmer Mike Turta hitched a team of horses to a sleigh, drove into the nearby town of Calmar for beer and threw a party for the 35 drillers and roughnecks who were on the site that day. |
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Youngest of them was John Funk, then 22, who still vividly remembers the moment the oil started to flow. “Vern Hunter”, he recalled some time ago at his Edmonton home, “thought I should have the honor of lighting the flare. I’d practiced the day before, and when the moment arrived, I swung that burning oil-soaked sack around my head and let it fly.
“Whoosh! Flames and black smoke shot up. The well belched a few times as it cleared itself, then a perfect smoke ring formed and floated off in the clear, cold air. A good omen, some people said.”
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