Contact
PO Box 2397
Virden Manitoba
R0M 2C0
ManitobaOilMuseum@gmail.com
Manitoba Oil Museum and Interpretive Centre
The Manitoba Oil Musuem and Interpretive Centre (as it came to be called) was created to promote the oil industry and also share stories of people living with oil extraction. Some of the first organizers were regulators working the Manitoba Petroleum Branch and a few industry members. The Manitoba Oil Show, which occurred every second year in Virden Manitoba, was a key place for building awareness of the museum and collecting due-paying members to fund activities of the museum. Over time posters, photos and even built to scale models were made and showcased in a booth at the Manitoba biannual Oil Show. These Oil Shows included booths from many different oil extraction-based companies; oil well drilling, trucking, exploration, separation, rehabilitation and clean up...etc. The Oil Shows also usually included a golf tournament and other types of entertainment at a catered dinner. The dinner is also where those being inducted into the Manitoba Oil Hall of Fame would receive plaques and recognition for their contributions and work within oil and gas extraction services in Manitoba.
One of the main reasons for pulling together the MOMIC was an effort to showcase Manitoba’s own oil heritage – the lives changed and influenced by participation in the oil extraction industry. Also, it was felt that many Canadians, and Manitobans, did not recognize the contributions and engagement in oil by those living in southwestern Manitoba. In Canada, Manitoban oil industry is small in comparison to other provinces, particularly Saskatchewan and Alberta, and there are many who overlook or are entirely ignorant about the fact there is oil extraction in Manitoba. Thus, the MOMIC was an effort to raise the historical and also political awareness of those who lives were directly and indirectly impacted by participation in oil industry activities since the inception of Manitoba.
MOMIC became a not-for-profit in 1992 and continued to work to gain legitimacy and seek funding for further work. As you can see from this brochure that was created to explain the work and goals of the MOMIC, one idea was to gather funds to create a physical museum site.
One of the hopes and dreams of the MOMIC was to create an actual museum building to preserve artifacts of this engagement with oil extraction since the 1950’s (as seen in this informational brochure developed by the MOMIC). However, around this time certain aspects of oil extraction were coming together to create an oil boom that was completely unprecedented. From 2006 to roughly 2013, oil production increased rapidly to arrive at an almost 600% increase at its peak, creating conditions where the activities of the MOMIC fell to the wayside as people in the area scrambled to keep up to this rapid pace. Fast forward to the current day, when a PHD student looking to learn about oil extraction in Manitoba heard about the MOMIC and was able to work with remaining board members and the municipal officer to create a Virtual Museum website. So this is the MOMIC currently, with hopes of further funding and work to bring more stories of oil extraction in Manitoba.
Manitoba Oil Hall of Fame
The Manitoba Oil Hall of Fame was a way to recognize members who had contributed in many ways to the ongoing oil extraction industry in Manitoba. The inductees in 2002 included Butch Forsythe, who ran an oil trucking company and is featured here with his son, a third-generation member in the company.
In this photo he is featured with the Director of the Petroleum branch at the time Claire Munster (SP?), and a few other inductees including Jim Downing and Elyn Dunning.
MOMIC educational materials and activities
Another goal of the MOMIC was to provide education to those interested (kids to adults) about the process of oil exploration and extraction in Manitoba. The museum members created posters, plaques, to scale models and even geological rock activities to engage visitors to the booth.
In 2006, the MOMIC worked with Arvel Gray and Catherine Kloczkowski of META Productions INC to direct and produce The Eternal Flame DVD. This DVD coincided with the 55th year anniversary of the first commercial oil well drilled in Virden Manitoba. The DVD features many photos and a few stories from families who benefited from oil wells being drilled on their land, but also included some historical reenactments (featuring some current day members of the MSRA) of some of the early mineral and surface leases that did not go well. (See the Surface Rights Association Exhibit). There are also three small bonus stories featured at the end including: 1. Fighting for Mineral Rights, 2. Oil Production in Manitoba, 3. Horizontal Drilling.
MOMIC members were very excited about this DVD and a grand opening was held in Virden for its premier showing at the Opera House downtown. This was back in the day when DVDs were all the rage and many copies were printed for distribution.
One interesting note however is that the title, Eternal Flame, was based on a flare stack (see exhibit on History of Oil Extraction and also exhibit on GASPE). Flare stacks became a common site of fracking due to the prevalence of natural gas and other toxic gases that arise with the oil and are separated at battery sites. The flame, in other words, represents the waste gas of the industry being burnt off because of its toxicity but also because of the lack of facilities to collect and refine the natural gas.