The Oil Springs Circle Driving Tour

Oil is an enormous industry spanning the globe. Virtually all trade, travel, agriculture, manufacturing and economies depend on it. The modern oil industry began with a spark in the 1850s and it took off like a brush fire. This fire ignited right here in Oil Springs, Ontario. This incredible tale is told in a whole new way in the Oil Springs Circle Tour. Here you not only see living history, you breathe it too.

The Oil Museum of Canada is the first stop and it gives a good overview of how the quest for lamp oil kick-started an oil boom and instantly created a new era, the petroleum era. The museum is a National Historic Site located at the intersection of Gum Bed Line and Kelly Road.

The tour route then travels east along Gum Bed Line and north on Gypsie Flats Road, passing several groupings of metal sculptures on Fairbank Oil Properties, also a National Historic Site. John Henry Fairbank began this oil field in 1861 and the family has operated it continuously since then. His great grandson, Charlie Fairbank, took ownership in 1973.

These sculptures depict real people and they are grouped like actors in a play. The setting is the authentic oil field that still uses the technology of the 1800s. Together they make vignettes, and tell the story of how the oil of Lambton County has been produced and shipped. The “metal men” and six life-sized horses are the surprising folk art creations of Murray Watson, who owns and operates Watson Machine Shop in Oil Springs.

Along the tour, you can hop out of your car and check out buildings, exhibits, the barn mural and wells in the woods. You may want to take the camera too. Please note that these buildings are only open on public tour days.

Murray Watson’s Machine Shop is the last stop on the tour. In total, the tour is five miles (8 km.) and how long it takes all depends on your curiosity.

The Oil Springs Circle Route:

(5 miles or 8 km.  )

From Oil Heritage Road (formerly known as Hwy. 21), take Gum Bed Line east.

Enter The Oil Museum of Canada and when exiting, use Kelly Road exit.

Turn right on Kelly Road.

Turn left on Gum Bed Line.

Turn left on Gypsie Flats Road.

Turn left at Oil Springs Line.

Turn left at Duryee Street for barn mural detour.

Return to Oil Springs Line and turn left.

Turn left at Kelly Road

Turn right at Gum Bed Line to return to Oil Heritage Road.

The Oil Museum of Canada

(At the intersection of Gum Bed Line and Kelly Road.  Enter on Gum Bed Line and exit on Kelly Road.)

This National Historic Site is the home of the well that changed the world. On this site, James Miller Williams dug an oil well. In 1858, he created North America’s first commercial oil business and a new global oil industry burst into being. Visit the museum and find out how the Black Gold of the Oil Springs boom was first celebrated as lamp oil and used to make asphalt. The story of Canada’s first gusher of 1862 is featured and a great deal more. Using both indoor and outdoor exhibits, the museum shows off a wealth of artifacts. They range from kerosene lamps to the exotic momentos brought home by the Foreign Drillers who took their expertise around the world to open new oil fields in the late 1800s.

(Take exit to Kelly Road, stop and look straight ahead.)

Checking the Oil Level

When crude is pumped from Oil Springs’ wells it has 20 times more water than oil, and they must be separated. In the white separating tank, the oil floats to the top and is piped into the black tank. The green tank holds the water which will drain into a disposal well. Loyd Woods, who operated this piece of land for many years, checks the level of his oil. Once a week, this oil is piped to a central shipping tank. From there it trucked to Imperial Oil for refining.

(Turn right on Kelly Road and left on Gum Bed Line.)

The Imperial Oil Receiving Station on Fairbank Oil Properties

(At the intersection of Gum Bed Line and Kelly Road.)

A team of horses wait patiently while crude oil is unloaded from an 8-barrel wooden tank to an underground tank which can hold about 100 barrels. At the tank, the man in white supervising the operation is Sam Donald, a Foreign Driller who returned to Oil Springs. Also monitoring the shipment is Garnet Byers, an oil producer, shown standing on the wagon.

The receiving station was always an easy distance for horses to draw the heavy load. Sam checks the purity of the oil by taking a sample in a graduated cylinder. Sometimes, not all of the water has been separated from the oil.

Inside the receiving station office, Tom Evoy stands to greet the oil producers and he was the receiving station operator, just like his father had been. Sitting at the desk is Henry Wheeler giving the oil producers a receipt for their oil. Henry started as an oilman at Fairbank Oil in 1917 and continued up until 1970. Behind the office, the receiving station also has a 5-horsepower motor pump for transferring crude oil to the railway cars. (A tank car sits on the former railway right-of-way just west of the museum.) The cars would be loaded and shipped to the station on the 12^th Line of Enniskillen Township, called LaSalle Road. Although the railway to Oil Springs closed in 1960, the receiving station continued to be used by Harold Marcus Ltd., which trucked the crude to Imperial Oil in Sarnia for refining.

In 1974, the receiving station closed, marking the end of an era. This is the only remaining Imperial Oil receiving station.

Transporting Oil to the Receiving Station

(Further along the road on your right.)

Irv Henderson guides a team of horses and an 8-barrel load of oil. He worked for Fairbank Oil from the 1960s through to the mid-1990s. These tanks were used until about 1975 but by that time, they were pulled by tractors, not horses. The tanks came in various sizes and each one bears a stamp with its capacity. When fully loaded, they would carry about two and a half tons (2,273 kg) of oil.

The Pioneer Pumpblocks

(Seen on the right side of the road and throughout the tour.)

An oil well is much like a water well; they both need a pump to get the liquid to surface. The water pump idea was easily adapted by our oil pioneers to create the pumpblock, later known as the pumpjack in this area. Oak and maple were plentiful so these pumpblocks were easily made. The wooden horizontal walking beam sits atop the wooden Samson post and the two pieces work together like a teeter-totter with a fulcrum. As the walking beam nods up and down, it lifts and lowers a valve assembly 350 feet (116 metres) below. Oil enters the valve and gets pushed up to the well head. From here, it flows into a pipe and is collected in a tank. Power for the pumpblock comes from the engine in the powerhouse and numerous pumpblocks can share one engine. The pumpblocks, like the modern pumpjacks, never cease; they operate day in and day out.

The Powerhouse or Rig

(On the right, at first turn-off is a small concrete building called the James Rig.  You may park and walk on foot to have a better look. )

Originally, the pump in each oil well was powered by an individual steam engine. In 1863, John Henry Fairbank devised the jerker line system in Oil Springs and it quickly spread throughout the area. It connects several wells and allowed them to share one central steam engine. When electricity arrived here in 1918, a 5-horsepower motor in the rig replaced steam. This is The James Rig, one of six powerhouses on the property that runs continuously day and night. It is open for public viewing only on special tour days.

Inside the rig, there is a 12-metre belt that loops like a giant rubber band around a bull wheel (6 feet or 2 metres in diameter) and the pulley with its motor. As it turns, the bull wheel uses a pinion gear to drive two large spur gears. These gears then turn two cranks which act like a bicycle pedals, causing the Pitman arms to move back and forth. From here, the power moves outside to a field wheel where it is shifted horizontally through the jerker line system.

The Underground Storage Tank

(This is visible if you are on foot. When facing the rig door, turn left, and walk to the far side of the building.)

The underground oil storage tank just east of the James Rig dates back to the 1880s and is still used today. These deep wooden tanks are made waterproof by packing the outer walls with blue clay. Every month, a big oil tanker operated by Harold Marcus Limited removes the load of 210 barrels by attaching a suction hose to the pump on the tanker.

Thomas the Tank Engine

(On the left side of the road.)

To amuse his young sons, Charlie Fairbank decided to transform an oil tank into Thomas the Tank Engine. Renée Ethier, formerly of Oil Springs, painted it. Another project was to hire Sue Whiting of Oil Springs to paint a number of modern pumpjacks to look like dinosaurs.

Pumping Oil from Storage Tank

(On the right side of the road.)

Raymond “Bucky” Mitchell is loading oil from a day tank where the well’s daily production of oil and water is separated; the water drains through a siphon and the oil is stored underground. From here, the oil is transported to the receiving station. Bucky worked at Fairbank Oil from the 1970s to the early 1990s.

The Three-Pole Derrick

(On the left side of the road.)

The three-pole derrick required horses to service the oil wells. Every 18 months, the rods and the pump in the well need to be hauled out, checked and repaired. Sections of rods and pipe of about 21 feet in length (7 metres) are uncoupled by the wrencher after the horses pull them out of the well. Then, the horses continue to pull out more lengths of pipe until all pipes and rods are removed.

Here you see Alex Fairbank, the younger son of Charlie Fairbank, sitting on the pumpkit wagon with the family dog, Mozart. The pumpkit has all the pulleys, cables and equipment needed to service the well. Albert Baines, of Baines Machine and Repair in Petrolia, climbs the derrick. It is his job to take the pulley and cable to the top of the derrick and hook the pulley into a clevis. Charlie Fairbank Jr. in the yellow shirt is the elder son of Charlie Fairbank and is shown here as the assistant. In the white shirt holding a wrench is Bob Cochrane, of Cairnlins Resources, who has the job of screwing and unscrewing the pipes and rods as they are removed from the well. The teamster directing the horses is David Taylor, a carpenter and former manager of VanTuyl and Fairbank Hardware in Petrolia.

At the west end of this display is Dan Whiting, the foreman of Fairbank Oil, standing on top of an underground storage tank. He is checking to see how much oil it contains by “floating the tank”. He takes a tin can with a string attached, fills the can with oil and lets it sink until it stops at water level. Each inch (2.5 cm.) of oil is five barrels.

Pulling Machines

(On the left side of the road.)

The portable pulling machines stored at this site began to service the wells in the 1950s after a disastrous wind storm blew down many of the three-pole derricks in Oil Springs. The blue machine was manufactured by Murray Bradley of Oil Well Supply in Petrolia. It is powered by a “one-lunger”, a single cylinder gas engine. As you drive through the tour of the oil field, you may see other service rigs operating.

At Gypsie Flats Road, turn left to continue the tour. For the next exhibit, you may drive by or turn right to enter the parking lot.

The Modern Pumpjack

(On the right side of the road.)

This modern pumpjack, of the 1940s, is entirely made of metal, unlike the wooden pumpblocks built by the pioneers. The man checking the well is Elwood Ayrheart who worked at Fairbank Oil during the 1930s and 40s. He also owned an oil property on the opposite side of Gypsie Flats Road.

The Jury and Evoy Flowing Well of 1862

(To see this well, park in the parking lot on the right side of the road and travel on foot, following the signs down the stairs.)

This well was dug by hand to the bedrock at 60 feet (20 metres) and then lined or “cribbed” with wood to prevent the walls from collapsing. Oil would seep into the well through the crib. The early pioneers dug their way to the oil and drilling of wells did not begin until later.

Sir Sandford Fleming reported in 1863 that this was one of the 33 amazing flowing wells which required no pump to bring the oil to surface. Each would produce hundreds or thousands of barrels of oil daily. Only when it stopped flowing did it become necessary to use pumps to bring oil to surface. This particular well produced 300 barrels, was bored deeper, and then produced 2,000 barrels daily. The flowing wells of 1862 petered out within the year.

The Wells in the Woods

(To see these wells, return to the top of the stairs and follow the signs for the path leading to the suspension bridge over Black Creek.)

After walking across the bridge, turn right and follow the nature path which makes a short circle leading back to the bridge. These very old wells were abandoned in the 1950s when the oil prices were too low to turn a profit. They became invisible with a half-century of forest growth. (Nature is clearly compatible with oil wells!) When Charlie Fairbank acquired this parcel of land in the 1990s, he had to find some of them with a metal detector and old maps. He added lanes and electricity to get the wells pumping again.

As you circle around, you will see the remaining foundation of a house which had belonged to the Parks family. Their flower garden has gone wild and this explains the profusion of periwinkles and of lilies of the valley.

Return to suspension bridge and parking lot to continue the tour.

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A Trio of Three-Pole Derricks

(As you leave the parking lot, turn right, and continue on Gypsie Flats Road. As you go down the hill you enter the floodplain of Black Creek.)

In the fall of 2007, Charlie Fairbank added three three-pole derricks to the flats where penniless Hugh Nixon Shaw hit Canada’s first gusher in 1862. Shaw dug his well to 50 feet (about 21 metres), then, with a spring pole, he bored another 158 feet (about 53 metres). The gusher astonished everyone and a vast quantity of oil flowed down Black Creek for days before the well was brought under control. This was no ordinary well; it was a flowing well. It produced an astonishing 35,000 barrels in 10 months. Shaw was offered $10,000 for his well and he refused to sell. Within the year, however, Shaw was overcome by fumes when repairing his well, fell into it and died.

Atop one of the derricks is Charlie’s brother-in-law, Phil Hein, a mountain climbing guide who also photographed the cover of The Story of Fairbank Oil.

Turn left at Oil Springs Line to continue the tour. Turn left again at Duryee Street and drive to the end of the street.

Barn Mural of Fairbank Oil Properties

(2558 Duryee Street)

On the barn in front of you is the frequently photographed mural of an early logo of VanTuyl and Fairbank Hardware. The store opened in 1865 in Petrolia and had a branch in Oil Springs. It is still in business in Petrolia.

Inspired by the Joyce Carey novel, The Horse’s Mouth, Charlie Fairbank threw a painting party in 1981. Artist Ann Evans converted the logo into a graph of one-foot squares and created a “paint by number” wall on the barn. The scaffolding went up and everyone at the party painted one square. The mural depicts a man driving a team of horses pulling an oil wagon.

Turn around and return to Oil Springs Line. Turn left onto Oil Springs Line and turn left again on Kelly Road.

Watson’s Machine Shop

(At the intersection of Kelly Road and Victoria Street.)

Constructed in 1880 by Anderson and Murray, this yellow brick building was originally known as Oil Well Supply. It was here in the late 19^th century that they developed a gas-powered engine using natural gas from local oil wells. The engines were phenomenally popular and were used as far away as Borneo. In 1946, George Watson and his father took ownership and carried hardware. Later in 1998, George’s son, Murray, took the helm and has specialized in blacksmithing and metal sculptures. Murray has created more than two dozen metal sculptures of real people for Charlie Fairbank, as well as six life-sized horses and one dog.

Follow Kelly Road to Gum Bed Line. The staff at the Oil Museum of Canada will happily answer your questions about the tour. Turn right to return to Oil Heritage Road.