Story context revision — narration, visual sources and timing.
The revised opening establishes the place, period, purpose and stakes of the story. The tables below identify the new material and map each retained section to the corrected original film.
Original equipment review and visual credits remain the source record for the retained material. Times on that earlier page refer to the original master; the mapping below gives their positions in this edition.
Download the structured credits and timing record
New narration and its sources
An oil well disrupts a growing field
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In nineteen forty-eight, Alberta's Leduc field was expanding after the previous year's oil discovery. Atlantic Number Three was another well pursuing oil in the deeper carbonate reservoir. On March eighth, it blew out. Oil escaped beyond the intended well path, and the emergency grew large enough to disrupt production across the field. Months later came the fire remembered in the photographs. We are following the uncontrolled flow beneath that fire, and the crews, waterlines and relief wells involved in bringing it to an end.
Aubrey Kerr, “History Revisited – Atlantic No. 3, 1948,” CSEG RECORDER (1998) — Specialist retrospective used for the account of severe lost circulation, attempted remedies and the relief effort. These details are attributed to Kerr; the article is not the original daily drilling log. It does not establish the exact equipment layout or surveyed relief-well geometry shown in the conceptual drawings.
Alberta Oil Review, reporting 1948 (published 1949) — Contemporary provincial account of the May 14 field shutdown, June 5 reduced-quota reopening and 59-hour September fire. Its broad late-March onset differs from the March 8 date in the contemporary newspaper account used by the episode. The report does not establish an exact permanent-plug date.
Lethbridge Herald, 10 September 1948, p. 2, “Normal” continuation — Contemporary reporting dates the initial blowout to March 8 and the cessation of wild flow to September 9. Cement plugs were still expected when the article appeared. The report therefore documents a stage in control rather than the final verified downhole condition.
G. S. Hume, The Canadian Mineral Industry in 1948, petroleum chapter, p. 126 — Contemporary federal account of outside-well escape, two relief wells and water injection. Its recovered-oil categories total 1,225,904 barrels; this is not the complete volume released. The original page reads a 2½-day fire, although the digital text layer misreads the fraction.
Canadian Petroleum Discovery Centre, Black Gold Pioneers: Alberta’s Petroleum Legacy — Museum-preserved participant accounts include John Stepanko’s recollection of the river-water line and oil collection, Frank Baillargeon’s construction and pipe-delivery work, and Bill Cummer’s memories. These are attributed retrospective accounts. Unrelated incidents elsewhere in the collection are kept separate.
New visual sequences
Historical photographs and source documents retain their stated identity and attribution. Explanatory diagrams and typographic sequences are identified separately.
1948 · Leduc field
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Alberta Oil Review, 1948 report published 1949 · Kerr, 1998
Original explanatory graphic · Sources credited in the existing Atlantic edition
Caption: Connected carbonate cavities and fractures can transmit reservoir fluid and accept drilling fluid. Original conceptual pore network. The shapes and connections are illustrative, not photographed Atlantic core or a measured reservoir model. Sources: NALDRETT1950, SLBLOSS.
Credit: GeoNavigate original technical illustration; historical and technical sources linked below.
License: Original GeoNavigate explanatory artwork.
Lethbridge Herald, 10 September 1948 · Original explanatory diagram
Caption: Uncontrolled flow can leave the original well and enter surrounding formations. Contemporary reports describe outside-well escape at Atlantic No. 3. The illustrated pathways are conceptual. They do not locate measured fractures, reproduce the actual casing design or establish an exact failure sequence. Sources: MINES1948, SLBUNDER.
Credit: GeoNavigate original technical illustration; historical and technical sources linked below.
License: Original GeoNavigate explanatory artwork.
The documented West Relief Well used to inject water toward Atlantic No. 3.
Caption: The actual West Relief Well, identified by Alberta Oil Review 1948, printed page6. Water was being forced through this relief well to help stop Atlantic No.3. This is later relief equipment, not the original drilling rig. The photograph’s exact exposure date/time and machinery maker/models are not given.
Credit: Government of Alberta, Alberta Oil Review 1948, printed page 6; University of Alberta / Internet Archive scan.
License: Public domain in Canada (expired Crown copyright), as identified on Wikimedia Commons
Actual Atlantic No. 3 fire, photographed months after the March blowout.
Caption: Atlantic No. 3 burning near Devon on 7 September 1948. Four people stand in the foreground beneath the large smoke plume. This photograph records the September fire, months after the initial blowout.
Credit: Provincial Archives of Alberta, KS66/6
License: No known copyright restrictions (official Provincial Archives of Alberta Flickr Commons statement)