The century-old Ontario oil wells that still yielded results
In 1979, Charlie Fairbank was drilling for oil, just as his ancestors had 100 years earlier
The price of oil was high in 1979, and an Ontario man stood to benefit by simply turning on the oil wells dotting his property.
Charlie Fairbank lived outside Petrolia, Ont., on land that had provided for his family since his great-great grandfather's time, courtesy of the black gold that lay beneath it.
'The first gusher'
"That was the first gusher," Fairbank told CBC reporter Michael Vaughan, indicating a site just over the crest of the hill. "In 1862 that flowed 2,500 barrels a day.
"It was so immense they couldn't handle the oil, they had no tankage for it. In fact they couldn't stop it from flowing."
And the oil was still coming, albeit at a slower rate.
Fairbank kept the old 19th-century wells producing using the same 19th-century technology that had started them.
He showed Vaughan the electric central pumping system that drove the jerker lines that powered the pumps that drew the oil.
$200,000 a year
Central tanks on the property held oil from multiple pumps and separated out the water.
"Daily, I find that there's a change in the ratio of oil and water coming out here," explained Fairbank.
Vaughan asked why some wells produced better than others.
"They're all individuals," said Fairbank. "One well here is doing over a barrel a day, and the poorest well is probably doing a sixth of a barrel a day."
There were 140 wells in total, yielding about $200,000 worth of oil a year at what was then a high price: $20 per barrel, or $68 in 2019 dollars.
DIY pump repair
Given the age of the oil pumps, maintenance was key.
Fairbank had a blacksmith shop on site to produce parts of the pumps that took on the most wear and tear: the eyebolts that held moving parts together.
"Forging these eyebolts for hangers gives me an opportunity to come in from out of the rain, and it gives me a lovely thing to do in the winter," he said.
"It's a constant job of replacing them. There are about 2,500 suspending seven and a half miles of jerker line here."
For his efforts, Fairbank's pumps produced enough oil to supply about 250 average users annually.
