Calgary & Southern Alberta

Leduc Gusher: Courtesy of the Provincial Archives of Alberta

The post World War II oil boom began on 13 February, 1947 Leduc, south of Edmonton. The Leduc oilfield was a 200-million-barrel discovery and further exploration uncovered the existence of a large oil field in the area. As a result of this find, scores of American and British oil companies entered Alberta in the 1940s and 1950s. Exploration companies discovered oil at the following locations in Alberta: Redwater (1948); Golden Spike (1949); Fenn-Big Valley (1950); Wizard Lake (1951); Acheson, Bonnie Glen and Westerose (1952); Pembina (1953); Swan Hills (1959); and Rainbow Lake (1965).

Petroleum discoveries yielded major natural gas discoveries at Pincher Creek, Cessford, Jumping Pound, and Waterton. In the 1950s significant gas reserves were also discovered near Calgary. By the 1960s, the oil and gas frontier moved beyond Alberta to the Arctic archipelago. Post World War II oil and gas discoveries transformed Alberta’s economy. In 1935, for instance, approximately 50 percent of Alberta’s wealth came from agriculture. By 1971, however, agriculture accounted for only 15 percent, while resource mining accounted for 40 percent. As a consequence of the oil and gas discoveries, Alberta became the largest prairie province in terms of population: while Alberta’s population stood at about 800,000 in 1941 (33 percent of the regional total), it was 1.3 million in 1961 (40 percent of the prairie population). By 1981, over half of the West’s population lived in Alberta. In addition, Albertans, new and old, increasingly migrated to the province’s urban centres. While approximately 50 percent of Alberta’s population lived in urban areas in 1951, that percentage increased to 70 percent by 1961.