Family Matters: For Time and All Eternity

Together, our family learned something profound about the history that shaped the world we know today. For two centuries, the progress and prosperity of western civilization rested on the strong, weary backs of coal miners,  men who toiled deep underground, often in darkness, so that others might have light, warmth, and progress.  In early 20th-century Alberta, those miners came from every corner of the earth, a rich diversity of languages, cultures, and stories. Many were immigrants, drawn by the promise of freedom and a better life. They left everything familiar behind, hoping to build something solid for their families. They found work but they also found hardship.   Coal mining was hard, dirty, and dangerous work. Yet for so many, it was the best, or only way to provide. And remarkably, despite the risks and the toil, these men took genuine pride in what they did. They saw their labor as more than...

Our family visited Heritage Park and stepped back in time to discover the story that shaped Alberta.    It all began in 1911, when an amateur geologist named William Stewart Herron noticed something remarkable: oil seeping through the ground in the foothills south of Calgary. Little did he know, that small discovery would launch Alberta’s entire oil industry. Herron brought in Archibald Wayne Dingman to oversee the work, and together they founded Calgary Petroleum Products. On May 14, 1914, their No. 1 Well, now known affectionately as the Dingman Well, struck oil at 2,700 feet.  What made it extraordinary? The gasoline was so pure it could power a car without any refining. That gusher sparked excitement across the region and started Alberta’s very first oil boom.   At Heritage Park, we saw the replica of the Dingman cable-tool rig. A story of preservation in itself. The first accurate replica was built in 1965, using h...