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There's oil in them there Hills! Traditional Cache

Hidden : 3/24/2006
Difficulty:
1.5 out of 5
Terrain:
2 out of 5

Size: Size:   regular (regular)

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Geocache Description:

Back beyond the beaver pond

Take the Beechill road,Off route 114.Drive up into the oilfields.Past the rig. Bear left.You may want a truck or an ATV. I did take my car in today...Depends if you mind a bit of mud. Follow the road back past the beaver pond.Take your first left.Follow that road to the end,where you will see that they have started to build up the road with mud and old wood debris.You wouldn't want to take a car there.Bear right and you will come to a field.
You will see a pile of old dead wood and trees... Beyond that is a small chopping area. Head in that direction. Its not far! The Cache is in a tall square tupperwear container painted (camolike)

Original contents:
FTF Gift $5 scratch tickets
TB Piglet
scented candle
cell phone case
mini screwdriver key chain
calculator
Canada pins
mini playing cards key chain
purple teddy
small padlock
2 toy cars
toy teradactyle
stitch..toy
plastic clamp

Short bit of History on N.B. Oil Fields Weldon N.B.


The method used to drill these wells in the early 1900's was called the "cable tool" method. This involved using a thirty-five horsepower steam engine to raise a heavy tool three feet in the air and then letting it drop onto the ground, forty times a minute. After the heavy tool was finished pulverizing the ground the tool was lifted out of the hole and the pulverized rock was then mixed with water and pulled up out of the hole by a bailer attached to another cable. Next pipe casing was sunk into the drill shaft, the diameter of the pipe casing got progressively narrower as the hole went further into the ground
The oil was then pumped up from the ground through a two inch thick pipe that was lowered into the pipe casings. It could take anywhere from three months to an entire season to drill an oil well using this method. An oil and gas refinery was built at Weldon which supplied oil and gas to local area residents. The company that owned the refinery also owned two gas stations in the area and sold gasoline using the brand name MICMAC. Today, there is not much oil and gas exploration being carried out in Albert County, however, there are still a few oil wells in the area which are still producing gas. With the boom in natural gas exploration in Nova Scotia, and the recent discovery of large amounts of natural gas in the Sussex area, near Albert County, companies are beginning to consider reopening the oil and gas fields of Albert County.

Natural Gas from these wells heated some houses in the Weldon and Hillsborough area and some of the old businesses on main street, Moncton up until the mid 1980’s. Zellers and Woolworths were 2 of the stores still using natural gas to heat their buildings up until that time. The old Palace Grill restaurant used natural gas cookers to prepare their food. During the 80’s the wells were still being bailed on a regular basis. The crude oil that was pulled up out of the wells was hauled by tanker truck to the Butternut Bakery and burned in their furnaces.

During the coldest winter months the wells had to be thawed, by pouring menthol hydrate down the casing of each producing well on a regular basis.(Every few hours) The wells were accessed by skidoo. (In winter many of the roads to the wells were impassable by car or truck).The gas flow to Moncton was maintained by a compressor station down the road to the right of the beaver pond. It was manned 24/7 during the coldest months to keep the main line to Moncton from freezing. It was sad to see the place shut down. A few local people were employed right up until they started tearing down the warehouse and pulling up the well casings.Its good to see that work might be starting up again......Maybe some work for our locals!
Check photo gallery for a couple of shots of the wells in the early days...

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Ng gur onfr bs n irel sng fcehpr gerr

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)