Robert Brown Sr.
A true pioneer, Robert Brown Sr.
showed few early signs of the role
he would later play in western
Canada's oil and gas sector.
Born to a rural family in 19th
Century Quebec, he worked from
age 14 in turn-of-the-century
electrical systems, first in Quebec
and later in the United States. With
no formal training, he instinctively
understood electrical networks and became a self-taught engineer.
Like many young men, Brown eventually came West, reaching
Calgary in 1906. He quickly found work, although not in the oil
industry, instead overseeing construction of a British Columbia
hydro plant, later returning to become head of Calgary's electric
light system.
Brown's engineering skills must have shone, because he was
soon put in charge of the town's growing streetcar network.
Meanwhile, he formed a group of companies to sell power to small
towns in southern Alberta.
While Brown was in Calgary, natural gas was discoveredsouthwest of the city, in Turner Valley, which soon became the
focus of industry interest. While some said pure "naptha" flowed
from local wells, natural gas was the bulk of Turner Valley
production, something passersby might have guessed from the
well flares that lit the night sky.
With no training in geoscience, Brown nonetheless became
convinced Turner Valley's gas fields concealed deeper crude oil
reserves, although he offered little evidence to support the theory.
Later, he found financial backing in the worst days of the Great
Depression, forming a public company, Turner Valley Royalties
Ltd., to test his theory.
An innovator, Brown adopted the concept of paying out a
well's income to investors as a royalty roughly 50 years before oil
and gas income trusts were developed. The royalty model struck
a chord. Investors backed Brown when his discovery well, Turner
Valley Royalties No. 1, came in June 16, 1936, flowing light oil at
850 barrels per day. For Turner Valley, the ensuing oil boom meant
years of investment. For Brown, it brought wealth and secured his
place in the history of Alberta's oilpatch.
Brown was the second president and a founding member
of the Association of Professional Engineers of Alberta, which
later became the Association of Professional Engineers and
Geoscientists of Alberta (APEGA). The founder of several oil
companies that later merged with Home Oil Company Ltd. He died
May 16, 1948, aged 62.