Natural Gas Timeline

DATE

EVENT

500 B.C.

The Chinese use crude bamboo pipelines to harness natural gas from surface seeps to light temples and distill seawater.

1626

French explorers witness indigenous people igniting surface seeps near Lake Erie.

1821

William Hart digs first actual natural gas well near Fredonia, New York. The well was dug 8 metres into a creek to harvest gas seeping to the surface. The gas was piped through hollow logs to Fredonia to fuel street lamps.

1859

“Colonel” Edwin Drake completes the first oil well drilled in North America. Natural gas from the well is piped 9 kilometres to Titusville Pennsylvania.

Natural gas is discovered in New Brunswick.

1866

Natural gas is found in southwestern Ontario.

1883

A Canadian Pacific Railway crew discovers natural gas near Medicine Hat while drilling for water.

1885

Robert Bunsen invents the Bunsen burner, the first device to mix and burn natural gas and air in the proper proportions for safe, controlled heating and cooking.

1889

Eugene Coste begins drilling natural gas wells in Essex County, Ontario.

1890

Coste drills a successful natural gas well near Niagara Falls, Ontario and ships natural gas to Buffalo, New York.

The Village of Medicine Hat begins drilling natural gas wells to supply fuel for cooking, heating and lighting.

1895

Coste exports Essex County natural gas to Detroit, Michigan

1901

The first commercial gas field is discovered in Medicine Hat, Alberta.

The Ontario government bans the export of natural gas.

1904

Coste moves to Western Canada to explore for and develop natural gas fields in southern Alberta. Natural gas is discovered at Cessford, Alberta and Suffield, Alberta

1909

Coste makes a significant natural gas discovery at Bow Island, Alberta.

1912

Coste builds a 270-kilometre pipeline from Bow Island to Calgary, Alberta and replaces coal gas with natural gas.

1923

The City of Edmonton switches to natural gas sourced from a field near Viking, Alberta.

1950s

Natural gas is discovered in Alberta at Westerose South (1954), Elmworth (1955), Crossfield (1956), Brazeau River and Waterton (1959) and in British Columbia at Clarke Lake (1959).

1956

TransCanada completes gas pipeline from Alberta to Ontario and Quebec.

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