The Boom: Oil, Popular Culture, and Politics in Alberta, 1912-1924

by Paul Chastko

When the Calgary Petroleum Products's Dingman No. 1 Well began operation in Turner Valley on May 14, 1914, it unleashed a spectacular frenzy of greed and excess. In a fever of free-market capitalism over 500 oil companies were created, selling fortunes on paper to eager investors. But fewer than fifty ever drilled for oil, and the Alberta oil industry suddenly began to look like one big swindle.

The public, and investors, demanded answers. Enter George Edward Buck, a charismatic revival preacher and self-proclaimed oil tycoon who made himself and his company the centre of every conversation while he salted his wells and misled investors. Far from the only person to profit from the sensational publicity of the Turner Valley Boom, Buck became the public face of all unscrupulous businessmen and an international scapegoat to preserve the integrity of Alberta oil.

The Boom is a history of the Turner Valley era that rescues the miscreants and charlatans from obscurity. Industry historian Paul Chastko returns the larger-than-life promoters, wildcatters and oil evangelists to the story. He shows the ways that Albertans, determined to overcome the obstacles of economics, geography, geology, and the market, made a conscious choice to pursue petroleum development and created an oil culture that continues to this day.

508 pages, Hardcover

Published December 10, 2025

Reviews

[Dan Wachal]

Fascinating. I was gifted a copy of this book and didn't really know what to expect. As a Western Canadian, I had some faint ideas about the history and impact of oil in Alberta, but not much more than a passing thought. The stories explored in this book are engaging, interesting, and honestly bring the history to life. What struck me the most is how much of what occurred seems to still occur today. The backstabbing, the lying, and the hard working people caught in the middle of it.

Chastko's writing is fluid, organized, and engaging, which made this a pleasure to read. This is easily the best book about the history of oil in Alberta I've ever read.