Working on the Rigs

Working on the rigs was dirty, dangerous work. There are countless stories of injuries and fatalities, but that was the risk a roughneck took to earn his seven dollars per day during the 1920's. The intense pressure of the Turner Valley oilfield made the work even more treacherous as this could easily cause a blow out, hurtiling tons of pipe and drilling equipment out of a well. It was because of a high chance of a blow out that many wells in the Turner Valley region remained uncapped in the early years, eventually leading to the decrease of pressure in the field, and subsequent difficulties in recovering any more oil and gas that a lack of pressure creates. Regulations were then passed which called for all wells to be capped so that the pressure in the field would not be depleated. The problems would not disappear however, even though there were new rules legislated by the government.

On Easter Sunday 1929, Royalite #14 blew out, tossing half a ton of casing 200 feet into the air. Two men, Murray McRae and Alfred Yea were both struck by falling pipe and consequently killed. A plaque stands in memory of this disastrous day on the site of Royalite #14, on the East side of main street in Turner Valley.