Harry F. Everard

Harry F. Everard was an American hired by Robert Fitzsimmons in May 1936 to construct a new separation plant at Bitumount. This was intended to take the operation to the next level and launch the International Bitumen Company Ltd. (IBC) into full-scale commercial production. Events did not unfold as hoped. January of 1938 saw Everard writing to Fitzsimmons from California to tender his resignation “from the directorship and vice-presidency” of IBC, and enquiring as to when he might receive wages owed to him. Fitzsimmons, for his part, blamed Everard for leaving the plant in disarray, going so far as to characterize his actions at Bitumount as sabotage.

Fitzsimmons first contacted Everard in June 1934, writing that a small refinery was in the works for Bitumount. “It will be a steam distillation type. We are not going to do any cracking at this time.” Everard had been recommended to Fitzsimmons as a capable refinery designer, and over the next couple of years they stayed in touch while Fitzsimmons arranged financing for the refinery. It is not clear whether Fitzsimmons knew ahead of time, or afterwards, that Everard’s qualifications as a petroleum engineer and refinery designer had been obtained from correspondence school. In any case, it is characteristic of Fitzsimmons that he proceeded with enthusiasm and with an eye on the bottom line.

Everard was hired in May 1936, and by summer work was underway. Photographs show land being cleared, storage tanks arriving on barges, and various buildings being erected at the plant. Throughout 1937, it appeared that progress was being made. While Fitzsimmons traveled back and forth from Alberta to Toronto, Montreal, Chicago and Vancouver, promoting Bitumount and selling shares in the International Bitumen Company, Everard kept him informed of the work going on at the plant. By the fall of 1937, Fitzsimmons was writing from Vancouver pressing Everard for specifics of production.

At this point, Everard departed for California to raise capital for the project. When he was not successful, the accusations started to fly. Fitzsimmons claimed Everard left Bitumount in a mess and that he lied about production at the plant. Everard threatened to hire a private detective to recover wages owed to him. Everard did not return, and Fitzsimmons turned to W. E. Adkins to fix the Bitumount plant.

The truth of what happened is not clear. Fitzsimmons claimed that there was a conspiracy to prevent him from succeeding at Bitumount, but the shoestring budget made it very difficult, if not impossible, for Everard to execute a workable design. Modest as it was, the construction effort had drained the resources of the International Bitumen Company. Even though Adkins was apparently able to fix the plant to some degree by the end of the 1938 season, IBC was left in a weakened position and unable to generate income. Eventually, this contributed to Bitumount’s passing out of Fitzsimmons’s control and becoming the site of the historic demonstration plant.