The Turner Valley gas plant, constructed in 1913, was the first petroleum production plant in western Canada. In 1914 W. S. Heron, a miner from Ontario, noticed oil coming up from the ground on a farm near Turner Valley, southwest of Calgary. He bought the farm, acquired its mineral rights, formed a company, and started drilling for oil. In May 1914 they found wet gas and oil.
News of the find hit Calgary like a bombshell and many new exploration companies were formed. The excitement was so great that within one 24-hour period, promoters formed more than 500 oil companies. Turner Valley became the foundation of Alberta's early oil and gas industry and became the training ground for the industry, as we know it today.
In dealing with various technological and environmental problems, Turner Valley achieved a number of "firsts" in Canadian gas processing and served as a centre for the spreading of knowledge and expertise for the oil and gas industry in Canada and around the world.
