The sub-Arctic oil strike

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The new party took over the operations. Four of them carried out the drilling while Link, with two others, continued his field work in the area. Link later wrote:

Geological work was confined to a study of the formations along the river and tributaries. Plane-table and traverses were made and not with­out difficulty. Mosquitoes and black flies, although not as bad as last year, made life miserable nevertheless. Inland trips had to be made with bedding, grub, plane-table, alidade, tripod and rod on our backs. Tents were eliminated as excess, and many times we got a good soaking from the rain. Too much food is also a hindrance to inland trips. Hardtack and bacon grease are the staples.10

"On August 23, 1920," reported the Imperial Oil Review, "when the drill was at a depth of seven hundred feet, word was brought to Mr. Link that oil was standing in the casing pipe within a few feet of the surface. 'Don't bother me again until it over-flows,' said the geologist, busy at his work." Four days later, a breathless driller again rushed up one of the trib­utaries of the Mackenzie to tell Link. The well was now at 740 feet, and this time the oil was flowing over the top. Link returned to the well, and for 40 minutes they watched as a fountain of oil shot 60 feet into the air, before the flow was shut in and the well capped.11

NOTES:
10. T.A. Link, “A trip to the Fort Norman Oil Fields,” Imperial Oil Review, Feb.1921
11. Imperial Oil Review, “Our Well at Fort Norman”, Feb.1921.

From The Great Canadian Oil Patch, pgs. 118 to 120, reprinted with kind permission of JuneWarren Publishing and Mr. Earle Gray.