Alberta Energy History

Last month, the Alberta Government and Fort McMurray Tourism announced a new partnership to offer tourism information at the Oil Sands Discovery Centre. Under the agreement, Fort McMurray Tourism will provide tourism information services as well as oversee and manage operations and programming at the Centre.

In celebration of this new partnership, the Alberta Culture launched the new website: Alberta's Energy Resources Heritage 

This website features tons of information about the history of the oil sands in the region. It's a great way to learn more about the region's history! Check it out!

HIStory & HERitage: Willow Lake Church in Anzac

HIStory & HERitage

While it may not look like it now, the Willow Lake Church in Anzac was once a beautiful building, bursting at the seams with a crowd of people.  For over 50 years, the Church was the centre of the community. It was where residents met to discuss projects and concerns, where young couples exchanged martial vows, where children were baptized, and where friends and family gathered to say goodbye to their dearly departed.

Looking at the dilapidated structure, it’s difficult to imagine that this little church was part of an internationally historic event: the Cold War.  

As a defensive measure during the Cold War, Canada constructed the Mid-Canada Distant Early Warning (DEW) Line in the mid-1950s. This was a line of radar stations, stretching across the country along the 55^th parallel. Its purpose was to detect incoming Soviet aircraft attacks on North America.

One of these stations, and the only one of its kind in Alberta, was located at Stoney Mountain, near Anzac. It was in operation by 1957. However, due to advancements in jet aircraft,  the Mid-Canada DEW Line became obsolete shortly after it was established.  In 1964, the Stoney Mountain station was closed and its buildings were either destroyed or moved.

The Willow Lake Church (which was the Protestant church at Stoney Mountain) was moved to Anzac around 1962. Anzac was chosen because the community had recently lost their church to a fire.

 Following the relocation, the building was slightly modified. A larger entrance was added to the front and a steeple was attached to the roof. The Mennonite Mission used the building as a school from 1962 until 1966. 

The Mennonites then donated the building to the community as a non-denominational church. Over time, the church was also used as as a meeting place for groups and organizations until a larger church was built in Anzac about 10 years ago. 

Internship Opportunity at the Provincial Archives of Alberta

Do you want to help Albertans access our province's history? The Provincial Archives of Alberta has thousands of textual records, maps and drawings along with millions of historical photographs readily available to the public. We currently have an internship opportunity for a highly motivated individual interested in public service and Alberta's history and archival records.


For more information about this opportunity please visit https://www.jobs.alberta.ca/pprofile/pp1021598.htm

Dinosaurs in Alberta's History

When people talk about history, they tend to discuss past events, particularly in  human affairs.  One amazing aspect of Alberta's history, however, is not of human origins, but that of the mighty Dinosaur!  Its hard to believe that these large reptile creatures that are seen in countless movies roamed the vast valleys and hills of Alberta.  Yes, indeed they did.  This is an article from the National Post online newspaper dated November 28, 2013.  Enjoy!

Alberta researchers unearth rare complete baby dinosaur fossil

It’s incredibly rare to find a complete skeleton of a baby dinosaur, but that’s just what a team of researchers at the University of Alberta and The Royal Tyrrell Museum did when they found the juvenile fossil of a Chasmosaurus belli, a dinosaur similar to a Triceratops. The find is the smallest ever for dinosaurs of this type.

The team made the find in Dinosaur Provincial Park in southern Alberta.

“The big ones just preserve better: They don’t get eaten, they don’t get destroyed by animals,” Dr. Philip Currie, a paleobiologist at the University of Alberta and research associate at the Tyrrell Museum told Live Science. “You always hope you’re going to find something small and that it will turn out to be a dinosaur.”

The skeleton was so well preserved, it seems, because the animal was sucked into a sink hole and trapped just as it died. The team estimates the dino was about three years old when it perished and about a metre and a half long. Ceratopsids such as the Chasmosaurus and the Triceratops reach full size after about 20 years when just the animal’s skull would have been about two metres long.

The corpse did not have bite marks or other obvious causes for death, so the scientists presume that it died from drowning.

“I think it may have just gotten trapped out of its league in terms of water current,” Currie told LiveScience.

The fossil was found when Currie noticed something sticking out of the side of the hill which turned out to be the frill of the Chasmosaur.

Adult Chasmosaurus finds are relatively common Dinosaur Provincial Park, which is about two and a half hours southeast of Calgary and one of the most active fossil sites in the world. The park, where more than 40 dinosaur species have been found, was named a World Heritage site in 1979. In 1985, the Royal Tyrrell Museum opened near the park, which offered a place to display and study the finds from the area.

Currie — a preeminent palaeontologist and one of the inspirations for Jurassic Park‘s Alan Grant — was one of the people to push for the creation of the Tyrell museum and is supporting the creation of the Philip J. Currie museum in Northern Alberta to serve as a similar resource to the Tyrell in the south.