The Viking Historical Society wishes to acknowledge the 110th anniversary of natural gas being found in the area. Gas was struck in Viking #1 well on Nov 4, 1914. This was only 11 years after first settlers came to the area in 1903 and five years after Viking became a town in 1909.
According to Viking’s history book, a group of businessmen from Edmonton wanted to find a source of gas for Edmonton, similar to what Bow Island wells had provided for Calgary. The battle of Alberta was already going strong. Fourteen men and their families came in May of 1914 and lived in tents while working to construct and drill the Viking #1 well.
These rustic living conditions are reported to be where the name “gas camp” originated, and it has stuck for 110 years. Six months after they started, they struck natural gas. Local residents would have relied completely on burning harvested wood and coal for heat and coal oil and candles for light at that time.
Development of the well and pipelines to Edmonton and later Red Deer were delayed because the First World War was also breaking out in the summer of 1914. This resulted in steel and manpower shortages. It would have taken a lot of both of those things to dig the trench and set the pipe all the way to Edmonton using only hand tools.
The war ended in the winter of 1918, and in 1923 the pipeline was constructed. The streets of Viking were lit up with gas lights in 1927, and it would have been a modern place to live, being able to use gas for lights, cooking, heating homes and businesses.
This was just in time to beat the recession in the 1930’s when progress was slowed, and then another world war when resources and manpower were again focused elsewhere. Large urban centres had electricity at about the same time as gas, but many rural areas had to wait for electricity until the 1950s. After the Second World War was also a busy time of expansion at the Viking Gas Camp, when the staff house was built to house single staff and provide an area to cook for them and meet and socialize with other staff.
Striking gas at Viking has helped our community to have modern conveniences for just about all of its existence. It has consistently been a major industry for our residents for the last 110 years.
The Viking Historical Society has got a great start on our Viking Gas Field Interpretive Centre and continue to accept stories and artifacts to display in the St. Matthew’s annex.
Kyla Lawes
