There are all kinds of industries operating today with very deep roots in the past. Printing, brewing beer, making cheese are but a few of them. These industries have continually evolved with new methods, materials and technologies. Not one is using the same technology as it did in the 1860s. But Fairbank Oil does.
Fairbank Oil’s preserved pocket of authentic technology is so rare, we believe it qualifies for a UNESCO world Heritage designation. Almost all oil sites around the world have disappeared. Their parts and pieces have been salvaged and reused where possible, replaced with newer technology, or worn out and abandoned to vanish in the sands of time.
This year, the jerker-line system for delivering power to oil wells reached its 160th anniversary. Incredibly it is still being used in Oil Springs! Devised by John Henry Fairbank in 1863 to have numerous wells linked to one engine, it saved oil producers so much money that it was adopted by virtually throughout Petrolia and Oil Springs. Here at Fairbank Oil we still operate nearly half of our 320 wells with it. It creaks, jerks and “sings” 24 hours each and every day. You can read all about it by clicking the Blog tab at the top of your screen.
The engine that sends power through the jerker line is housed in a powerhouse or rig. There are six here at Fairbank Oil. For safety reasons, only a Fairbank Oil employee is permitted to show a rig to others so access is very limited. But the good news is that we have unearthed a video clip of the rig in action and it is now posted under the Find Out More tab of this website. Filmed by multi-media artist Jane Austen of Petrolia, it captures the whole process and the loud clanking of the gears inside our rig on Gum Bed Line. This particular rig is almost 100 years old and replaced an earlier version. The foundations of the earlier version are clearly seen a short distance north.
In earlier days, the rig was powered by massive steam engines fueled by coal. We “modernized” to electricity 105 years ago. The cast iron gears were forged at local foundries, likely in the early 1930s. They were built to last. And last they do. If equipment lasts for more than 100 years, that’s the very definition sustainability!
Use the tabs above to find more stories on our history, technology, Driving Tour, all blogs, and more! Scroll down to learn about Touring Fairbank Oil Fields
Take a leisurely drive from the Oil Museum of Canada and you can see the oil fields in action and our life-sized metal sculptures of oilmen working. The sculptures have been made by Murray Watson and they are arranged like actors in a play showing how the work was done in earlier days.
If you’d like to hear the driving tour’s audio narrative, begin by touring the Oil Museum of Canada and you can get a map with the radio frequencies for each stop.
This a tour best seen at a slow pace. The jerker line moves at 11-times per minute, the same pace as relaxed breathing. Take a few moments to watch it. Some find it almost hypnotic and soothing.
To simply tour without the audio, click here for a full description of each stop.
An authentic horse-drawn oil wagon is driven by Bucky Mitchell to the Receiving Station where local oil was collected before sending it to Imperial Oil’s refinery.
– Photo by Patricia McGee
Number of oil wells now operating: 350
Number of oil wells operating in 1974: 70
Number of years since most oil wells were drilled here: 120 +
Number of acres: 650
Number of barrels of oil pumped here annually: 24,000
Number of barrels J.H. Fairbank pumped when he was the largest oil producer in Canada in the 1800s: 24,000
Number of barrels the Black and Matheson flowing well produced in Oil Springs in one day in 1862: 6,000
Year that Lambton County started sending its 500 Foreign Drillers to 86 countries around the world to open new oilfields: 1873
Population of Oil Springs on the February 1861 census: 54
Population of Oil Springs in 1865: 4,000
Population of Oil Springs in 2016: 648
Number of Munro Honey bees living at Fairbank Oil: 500,000
Number of acres farmed with crops here today: 100
Number of years that sheep have been raised here: 80
Ratio of oil wells to sheep: 3 to 1
Ranking of the abundance of flora and fauna biodiversity of Fairbank Oil in Lambton County: 2nd
Ranking of the abundance of flora and fauna biodiversity of Walpole Island in Lambton County: 1st
Number of butterfly species identified here: 29
Number of grassland bird species identified here: 43
Year Imperial Oil was formed in London, Ontario: 1880
Number of years Fairbank Oil has been shipping crude to Imperial Oil so far: 139
Number of years ago that glaciers covered this part of the country: 10,000 +
Number of years ago that the oil here was formed by plants and sea creatures: 350 million
Number of litres in a barrel of oil: 154
Number of Imperial gallons in a barrel of oil: 35
Number of American gallons in a barrel of oil: 42
Hours each day that the wells are pumping: 24
Average price of a barrel of crude in 2018: $69.52 U.S.
Average price of a barrel of crude in 1972 before the oil embargo on the Middle East: $1.82 U.S.
Average price of a barrel of crude in 1974 after the oil embargo: $11.00 U.S.
Number of wells the big Fairbank & Shannon rig had pumped in 1906: 212
Horsepower need for each of the six power rigs: 5
Number of km. of wooden jerker line on Fairbank Oil: 12
Number of km. if the depth of all the wells at Fairbank Oil were laid end to end: 37 km
Number of metres beneath the ground the oil is here: 133
Ratio of water to oil when it comes up to surface here: 50 to 3
Cost of installing the first disposal well in 1991: $250,000
Number of individual metal sculptures of real people here: 22
Number of donkeys: 1
Current number of domestic geese wandering the property: 7
Number of deer wandering the oilfields and woods: Countless
Lots! In all of Lambton County, only Walpole Island has greater biodiversity than Fairbank Oil Fields.
As the county is farmed more intensively and urban development grows, the forests, wetlands and meadows have largely disappeared. This makes Fairbank Oil Fields very important to preserving these habitats.
There are two key reasons the biodiversity is so huge here. One is that Black Creek meanders through the northern and western sections of our land. The second reason is that our various landscapes are large enough to be brimming with life.
Within our 600 acres of woodlands, wetlands and grasslands, we have sheep, geese, deer, wild turkeys, owls, beavers, possums, turtles, frogs, butterflies, more than 80 species of birds, plus we have 500,000 Munro Honey bees and a donkey named Jack.
And in total, we have 315 species of plants. A number of the trees and plants here are rare for Ontario or rare for Lambton County.
