Vern Hunter

Vern Hunter, a smallish and soft-spoken man, began his colorful oil career as a clerk for Royalite. He was more interested in physical exertion than in sitting behind a desk, and so he was happy to land fieldwork in 1926.

Three years later, the Depression knocked the feet out from under the oil industry. Most drilling operations in Turner Valley shut down, and Hunter found himself laid off.

Royalite rehired him, as a driller, in 1934. By 1940, he had been made toolpush on a diesel powered rig.

Early one morning, after an engine had broken down, Hunter joined his crew in trying to pull it out for maintenance. The Western Production Manager, Walker Taylor, was at the rig early and spotted him hard at work.

A few months later, when Taylor was appointed Superintendent at Norman Wells, he hired Hunter to work as a Drilling Supervisor for the ill-fated CANOL Project. After about a year, when the project was abandoned, Hunter resumed his former position for awhile.

Imperial Oil set Hunter the task of leading exploratory drilling operations at new sites throughout Saskatchewan and Alberta. None of these wells yielded a drop of oil and, as a result, media saddled this drilling supervisor with the nickname, "Dry Hole Hunter."

If Imperial had dreams about halting exploration in Alberta due to the dry spell, these were soon dashed by the election of the CCF Government in Saskatchewan. The CCF was hostile towards anything it viewed as big business, and was not above expropriating company materials for the common good.

Imperial pulled up stakes and headed out of Saskatchewan in mid-1946, turning its attention instead to the potential of Alberta.

The company had begun drilling a new well - Leduc #1 - in November of 1946, and Hunter had the good fortune of leading the dig.

On February 13, 1947, he was around to bring this gusher in. Its output was such that the well immediately ignited national and international interest. As a consequence, Hunter finally shed his nickname.

Imperial Oil promoted Hunter to Manager after the discovery.