After spending several years and $10 million searching for oil and gas, the California Standard Oil Company made the first commercial oil discovery in Manitoba. The California Standard Daly well, 15 kilometres west of Virden, had been drilled to the Precambrian at a depth of 1 636 metres by November 16, After extensive tests, the well was plugged back to the Mississippian formation at 762 metres. It began producing on February 1, 1951.