Fernie’s Forgotten Oil Frontier: The Derrick, the Seep and the Lost Tools
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
Oil seeps and an oil prospect
00:00.000–00:21.958
Oil was seeping to the surface in British Columbia's Flathead country. In the early nineteen hundreds, that evidence drew prospectors into the mountains. Crews at Akamina and Sage Creek were drilling for oil. They wanted to know whether the seeps led to reservoirs they could produce. Fernie's preserved derrick recalls part of that remote exploration story. Start with the clue that could be seen, and smelled, above ground.
P.A. Monahan, The Geology and Oil and Gas Potential of the Flathead Area, 2000 — Geological assessment published in 2000, used for the regional structure and exploration history. Its assessment reflects knowledge at that date; statements about resource potential or mineral rights are not presented as current determinations.
Fernie Derrick Society: Historical — Local heritage account of the derrick, salvaged equipment and early Akamina exploration. Its first-well claim and drilling dates differ from government compilations; the episode identifies those differences rather than treating one account as settled.
BC Annual Report of Minister of Mines for 1915: Flathead River Oilfield — The provincial report reproduces an operator’s letter describing shows, water entry and casing difficulties. This is operator testimony rather than an independently audited production test. The proposed test is not treated as a test known to have occurred.
A report from the oil operation
03:38.167–03:53.542
The provincial mining report for nineteen fifteen printed a letter from the manager of the Flathead Oil Syndicate's operations at Sage Creek. It records the operator's observations and plans, rather than an independent production audit. The manager described two different wells. First, Number Three.
BC Annual Report of Minister of Mines for 1915: Flathead River Oilfield — The provincial report reproduces an operator’s letter describing shows, water entry and casing difficulties. This is operator testimony rather than an independently audited production test. The proposed test is not treated as a test known to have occurred.
New visual sequences
Historical photographs and source documents retain their stated identity and attribution. Explanatory diagrams and typographic sequences are identified separately.
Flathead country
00:00.000–00:05.500
Historical photograph of a relief model, not an aerial photograph.
Credit: REPORT FOR 1914 · PUBLISHED 1915 · BC GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
BC Minister of Mines · 1915 report, published 1916 · p. K115
Caption: Flathead No. 3 operator-reported depth events from the 1915 provincial report, published 1916, p. K115. This is an evidence timeline, not a continuous measured log or a drawing of the actual rig. The proposed flow test is not represented as a known completed result.