Evening star., 1950-02-21
Windsor Seen Likely
To Strike Il Rich
In Canadian Oil
By Paul Manning
North American Newspaper Ailienes

NEW YORK, Feb. 81. - The
Duke Of Windsor, now wintering
in the South, may suddenly be-
come even richer than he is to-
day: experts say his 3,o00-acre
cattle ranch in Alberta, Canada,
lies close to the center of the
greatest oilfleld in North America.
According to Donald Gordon.
chairman and president of Can
adian National Railways, the AL
berta District is currently under
the most active oil exploration ef-
fort of any area in the Western
Hemisphere. Reserves of slightly
over 1000, 100000 barrels Of petro-
leum have been uncovered in the
three years since Northern Al
berta's first oil strike definitely
stamped the small city of Edmon-
ton as the "oil capital" Of north
western North America.
Today, in the booming area,
new producing well is brought in
every third day.
The Duke of Windsor's ranch
at Pekisko, where herds bearing
the Edward Prince" brand roam
over the prairies on both sides of
the winding Saskatchewan River,
IS today described by geologists as
.oming oil territory Five years
ago, the North Continental Oil
md Gas Corp. drilled a test well.
Although oil was struck, it drew
a blank because water from un-
derground streams poured into
the test bore. No further at
tempts were made to locate oil on
this ranch until recently. Geo.
physical surveys now show large
petroleum formations and so new
efforts to his these deposits will
be made.
Edmonton's Population Mounts.
The story of Edmonton, the
heart city Of this Canadian oil
land, is that of a sleepy town
brought alive by the discovery of
Oil. It's population mushroomed to
100000 in 1949, and people say
1t will climb to 250,O00 within a
decade If oil continues to flow.
And a report on Canadas oil de-
velopment, just issued by Cana
dian National Railways. suggests
petroleum will continue to pour
indefinitely from this lush Cana
dian land. The CNR account is
objective and conservative and yet
1t states that oil is "all around
Edmonton" with explorations now
spreading afield into British Co.
lumbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba
and Northern Alberta. as we'll as
Southern Alberta, where the Duke
or WlndSor'S ranch sits astride
the finest three sections of land
in that part of Canada.
So vast and productive have the
oil pools proven that the oil mar
kets OF Western Canada have been
saturated, forcing construction of
a pipeline from Edmonton to Su-
perior, Wis, on the Great Lakes,
where loaded tankers will haul
the black liquid to the United
States and foreign markets.
Texans Bring Know-How.
In Edmonton and Leduc, White
mud, Golden Spike, Barrhead, Bon
Accord and Redwater, the soft
twang of the Texas Panhandle
mixes with the hard consonants of
Alberta, for this vast Canadian
oil strike is joint American-Ca-
madam operation. The oil is Can
ada's, but the know-how of driv-
ing a we'll 12,500 feet down
through rock to oil-bearing shale
and sand comes straight from the
heart OF Texas and Oklahoma.
Ottawa and Washington know
that the Canadian oil discoveries
are to have the most far-reaching
effect on the economies of the two
nations.
To the Joint Chiefs of Staff in
Washington, it means an easing of
petroleum logistics; a major pc
troleum supply is now at hand,
close to the vital Alaska -Artic
defense perimeter.
To the government of Canada,
taxable income from the oil
strikes means new roads and
schools, factories and towns, a
true opening of the vast Canadian
West which has been retarded so
long by lack of funds.
To Edward, Duke of Windsor,
the discovery of oil on his cattle
ranch can mean only one thing:
an extra bank account in another
part of the commonwealth.
The New England catch of
ocean perch, or rosefsh, in