A well-known former Turner Valley resident will reminisce about a piece of her hometown’s history with members of her community on Sunday.
Laureen Harper, the wife of former prime minister Stephen Harper, will reflect on her childhood in the thriving oil and gas community of Turner Valley decades ago with the presentation, Growing up in the Valley of the Flares, in the Turner Valley Oilfield Society Speaker Series.
The event takes place at the Flare ‘n’ Derrick Community Hall May 13 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Following the presentation, Harper will join attendees for a tour of the Turner Valley Gas Plant, a provincial historic resource and natural historic site.
Harper last toured the site on May 14, 2014 during the 100th anniversary celebration of the Dingman No. 1 discovery well that led to the creation of Alberta’s first natural gas plant and started the modern era of oil and gas as exploration and processing, changing Alberta’ economy forever.
"The Turner Valley Gas Plant is just a part of our history and it’s just nice that they’ve kept it up,” she said.
"Some of the old buildings were state-of-the-art and now they’re history. Having it there is just a reminder of how important that area was at one time.”
Harper, who was born in Turner Valley’s former hospital on the banks of the Sheep River, said she has many fond childhood memories of the booming oil and gas industry.
"It was never dark because there was always flares,” she said. "You would see the big flares going up the valley. At the time it wasn’t unusual.”
Another fond memory was the whistle blowing at the gas plant, marking the beginning of work, lunch break and the end of the work day.
"When the whistle went you always knew what time it was,” she recalls.
Like many men who lived in Black Diamond and Turner Valley at the time, Harper’s grandfather worked at the plant.
"It was tough, hard work,” Harper said. "There were truck drivers and drillers and rough necks. Some were driving heavy machinery.”
Harper said gas produced at the Turner Valley oilfields assisted the Second World War.
"Pilots would come over from Europe to learn how to fly,” she said. "When they went back they had many more hours. Alberta supplied gas so the war efforts could continue. It was so important there. It was such a precious resource.”
Al Lambden, chairman of the Turner Valley Oilfield Society, said the organization hopes to host a Speakers Series every May around the 14th in honour of the discovery well. Last year’s event featured Calgary historian David Finch, who talked about Winston Churchill’s visit to the gas plant in 1929.
Lambden said he is excited to have Harper talk about her childhood memories of the oil and gas industry in an approximately 45 minute presentation.
"She’s going to be telling us some stories about growing up in Turner Valley and her memories of what it was like as a kid there and some of the people and events that were happening there,” he said. "Kids that grew up there remember things like the steam whistle that blew on a regular basis, traffic, workers and that sort of thing.”
Lambden said it’s important to the society to promote the history of the area as much as possible.
"We want to use those tools to not only demonstrate the history but also some of the innovations that were pioneered in southern Alberta,” he said.
"There is an educational component and historical component and we want to take the interest in that history and raise some funds to do some promotion like the Jack Bowman Interpretative Trail that interacts with residents and people who might want to visit the area.”
Lambden said he hopes the society can continue to find speakers each year who are interesting to people in the area.
"As the Speaker Series goes we think it’s a way to keep interest alive, not only for our society but the history of the area, and to find activities that help promote tourism and support local businesses,” he said.
For more details go to turnervalleyoilfieldsociety.ca
The Turner Valley Gas Plant will open for public guided tours weekends and statutory holidays from May 19 to Sept. 3.
