“Province of Alberta - First Discovery of Natural Gas: The first gas well in Alberta was drilled at Alderson, about three kilometres to the southwest. The C.P.R. sunk a well in 1883 seeking water for its transcontinental railway locomotives, but struck natural gas instead, at a depth of 3250 metres. A second well, the following year, again struck gas. By the early 1890s several more wells had been drilled in the Medicine Hat area, producing gas for home and factory. From this small but promising beginning grew Alberta’s natural gas industry.”
