The People

The Bitumount story is full of personalities. Promoters and politicians, scientists and engineers, students, cooks and labourers all played their part. Some appeared only briefly, while others were a constant presence. Some took centre stage, while others played supporting roles. Likewise, the oil sands became the central theme—perhaps even an obsession—in the lives of a few, but for others it was a springboard that took them to successful careers elsewhere.

A variety of circumstances led to Bitumount being the location of the plant that finally demonstrated a method to separate the oil sands on a commercial scale. Those circumstances were the result of the efforts of disparate people with widely different backgrounds and motivations, often in competition or at cross-purposes. For a brief period, in the middle of the twentieth century, these efforts converged on the banks of the Athabasca River, and Bitumount became the focal point where a significant breakthrough in oil sands technology took place.