The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1921-05-10
ny THEODORE A. LINK.


ny THEODORE A. LINK.
Edmonton. Can. May 10.-Any at
tempt to predict what lies in the f,l-
ture for the Fort Norman oil field 's
purely speculative. The first we'll,
which gave results Tar greater than
were expected. does not prove that a
large oil field has been tapped.
A great deal of time. money and
hard work must be expended before
an oil field in that frozen north coun-
try is to be established. Thousands
and thousands Of dollars will be spent
and a few fortunate investors may be.
come rich. Many more. however. will
never get back the money spent, ever
II. an oil field is developed.
To drill the first test we'll at Fort
Norman cost the Imperial Oil. Ltd.
s15OQO0 The drill was not landed
completely at Oil Creek until seven
months had e]apsed-and great deal
of luck and risk were connected with
the transportation of that rig.
Exploration Work.
John Zieman and l arrived at Fort
Norman July 3, 1919, on Royal
Northwest Mounted Police boat. We
left the motorboat 30 miles north Of
Fort Norman and commenced geologi.
cal work in a canoe. .-
We ascended creeks. climbed noun
tains and reached points never seen
by white man before.
Black flies and mosquitoes made
our lives almost pnbearable. The
windfall and muskeg swamps made
progress almost impossible. The
blazing heat OF the sun drained my
vitality so that l was twice forced to
drop from exhaustion and bury my
head In the cool moss.
Examinations and prospecting OF
that sort we carried on to point 40
miles inside the Arctic Circle.
Battling Mosquitoes
After returning to Fort Norman we
ascended the Great Bear river, so
miles Here we encountered a swarm
Of mosquitoes so thick that they
seemed to be fighting for space on our
faces. s,
We made trip Of is miles over
mountains 5000 feet high. sr
We arrived back at our camp on tbe
Great Bear River, near its confluence
with the Mackenzie, after 4S hours Of
tramping. at 2 A. NJ, Aug. 3, hungry,
but too tired to cat @..
We expected to find there steam
boat with the drilling crew and the
rig, but it had not arrived, although
it was already two days overdue.
At noon we had regained enough
interest in life to prepare our las.
meager meal. We fried some mOldy
hammock and made soup from an odd
bone from the remains of our bacon.
No fish could be caught, and so we
just lay amidst an attack of Bulldog
flies.
On March Again.
At II that night We decided that It
was a, matter Of not eating, or walk
ing to Fort Norman. We started on
4 trip up the Mackenzie river with
enough porridge for one meal and five
pieces OF hardtack.
1t was q long and dreary trudge,
with the dancing Of the Northern
Lights overhead seeming to empha-
size our misery.
We ate our remaining ratiOns at
; A. NJ, slept Is minutes and resumed
the march. It was very cold during
the few hours the sun was behind
the mountains, but soon after sun.
rise It became very warm again.
We reached an Indians camp AMI
borrowed his canoe.
Lo! the steamer N0rthland Trade:
appeared and took us aboard. We had
walked IS miles with nothing to eat
Sleep was out OF the question be-
cause l was needed to point out the
landing place for the machinery. We
finally arrived at Oil Creek at mid
night, Aug. z.
After a great deal Of anxiety on
our part, the motor boat bringing
down the remaining part of the drill.
ing rig arrived Sept. 26. But we had
given up all hopes of its arrival and
had reached Fort Norman on our way
back to civilization.
We left crew of six to winter a!
Oil Creek, so they could commence
drilling in early spring, and started
back to Edmonton, arriving Oct. 21.
We set our for Fort Norman the
18th of the following May with 22
tons of freight The outfit .on two
scows was pushed down Peace River
by mOtOrboat. -
= At VermilliOn Chutes four-mile
portage had to be made. The scOws
had to be run through the rapids and
let down with ropes 20 feet over a
limestone ledge. The largest scow
was wrecked. Only through heroic
efforts were the contents saved.
Hair-raising thrills and narrow es-
capes in running the 16 miles Of
Smith Rapids will ever remain in my
memory. We ran one rapids which
had never been shot before and. were
the first "all white" crew to take a
scow through Smith Rapids.
We crossed Great Slave Lake in a
leaky scow carrying seven tons more
freight than it should have had We
landed at the we'll July 8. The crew
which had wintered at the we'll had
ben living on fish and flour for three
weeks. The well was down 305 feet.
Gusher Is Struck.
A~gusher was struck Aug. IS.
Preparations for new site we're
made and now everything is In readi-
ness for a new rig.
The company is contemplating sink
-~' - Continued on paR0 - 4