The Canadian Western Natural Gas Heat Light and Power Company Compressor Plant

Scope and Content: Crew that constructed the Canadian Western Natural Gas Heat Light and Power Company compressor plant at the Bow Island natural gas field. Identified are, front row, left to right: Slim Koch (4th left), Tommy Chisholm (5th left), Joe Volk (8th left), Frank Parker (far right). Middle row, left to rig…

History Biographical: "The Bow Island field was developed after the 1909 discovery by Eugene Coste, sometimes known as the father of the natural gas industry. A line was built from this field to Calgary in 1912 and the company was formally established that same year The Bow Island field originally contained an estimated 40 billion cubic feet of natural gas. By 1920 the field pressure had fallen to about 200 pounds per square inch (from about 750 psi) and gas to feed the system had to be secured elsewhere. Some came from the Foremost field and some from wells in Turner Valley. In 1930 this compressor plant was built and re-pressuring began. It was one of the first re-pressuring schemes to be developed commercially. Gas was compressed 11 months each year until sometime during the Second World War when surplus gas became unavailable. About 14 billion cubic feet had been stored and field pressure was raised to about 575 psi. In 1947 the gas began to be used for peak load (winter) purposes." [Source: Chris Morrison]

Scope and Content: Crew that constructed the Canadian Western Natural Gas Heat Light and Power Company compressor plant at the Bow Island natural gas field. Identified are, front row, left to right: Slim Koch (4th left), Tommy Chisholm (5th left), Joe Volk (8th left), Frank Parker (far right). Middle row, left to right: Chet Davidson (2nd left), Burton Chutes (4th left), Olie Carpenter (5th left), Phil Ross (6th left), Ralph Watkins (7th left), Jim Frost (8th left), Bobby Nelson (10th left), Ray Lyons (11th left). Back row, left to right: Dane Clark (2nd left), Roy Evans (3rd left), Jim Burness (4th left), Ted Carpenter (5th left), Ruth Satrang (6th left), James Jacob Morrison (7th left), Vi Clark (8th left), Julie Salberg (9th left), Bob Gourley (10th left), Bob Lalong (12th left), Perry Duffy (far right). The women in the photographs were cooks for the construction crew.