| Fort Mcmurray, Alberta |
Article Index for Fort Mcmurray |
Limousines in Fort McMurray |
Website Links For Fort Mcmurray |
Information AboutFort Mcmurray, Alberta |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT FORT MCMURRAY, ALBERTA | |
| fort mcmurray | |
| communities in alberta | |
| hamlets in alberta | |
| former cities in canada | |
| 1995 disestablishments | |
| hudsons bay company forts | |
| mining communities in alberta | |
|
Fort McMurray, colloquially referred to as '''Fort Mac''', is a Hamlet in the northeastern part of Canada 's western province of Alberta , in the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo, Alberta . Although it is commonly referred to and thought of as being a city, Fort McMurray is no longer incorporated. Thus, Fort McMurray has the status of being the largest Unincorporated "city" in Alberta. LOCATION Fort McMurray is located at , 370 m above sea level. It is 435 km northeast of Edmonton on Highway 63, about 60 km west of the Saskatchewan border, nestled in the Boreal Forest at the confluence of the Athabasca River and the Clearwater River . Fort McMurray is the largest community in the Regional Municipality Of Wood Buffalo . POPULATION The population of Wood Buffalo ( 2005 Census ) is 73,176, with the majority of that located within the immediate area of Fort McMurray, which used to have city status until it was incorporated into Wood Buffalo in 1995 . Because Fort McMurray no longer has a municipal government of its own, it is technically a Hamlet , even though its population is now estimated to be 60,983, according to the 2005 municipal census. Fort McMurray is a multicultural community, attracting people from all corners of Canada and the world. Albertans make up almost half the number of migrants to Fort McMurray, followed by 17% of people originating from Newfoundland, Canada {Link without Title} . CLIMATE The average temperature at Fort McMurray is -19.8°C in January and +16.6°C in July. Its annual rainfall amounts to 334.5 mm, its snowfall is 172.0 cm. ECONOMY Fort McMurray is considered the heart of one of Alberta's (and Canada's) major hubs of Oil production, located near the Athabasca Oil Sands . Besides the Oil Sands , which dominate, the economy also relies on Natural Gas and Oil Pipeline s, Forestry and Tourism . The two largest oil sand mining companies are Syncrude and Suncor . Fort McMurray's growth is characteristic of a has promised to release more Crown Land for residential construction, particularly in Timberlea in the north side. TRANSPORTATION Air Fort McMurray Airport ( ICAO Code CYMM, IATA Code YMM) is serviced by Westjet , Air Canada , Air Canada Jazz , Peace Air , Corporate Express and Air Mikisew with scheduled flights to Calgary , Edmonton , Fort Chipewyan , and Peace River , Toronto and St. John's (via Toronto). The airport is also serviced by various oil companies with corporate and charter flights. Flights are frequently booked to capacity because of the high transient worker population and people unwilling to drive on Highway 63 . City Public Transit There is a modern public transit bus system operating in Fort McMurray, with routes that extend to most subdivisions. Bus Greyhound Canada and Red Arrow operate scheduled passenger bus services to Edmonton and other communities along Highway 63 , as well as other destinations further south. Highways and Arterial Roads Alberta provincial Highway 63 is the main highway between Fort McMurray and Edmonton. Due to the industrial demands of the oilsands, highway 63 boasts some of the highest tonnage per kilometer in Canada and the largest and heaviest loads that trucks have ever carried. The provincial government has recently announced that road construction to twin Highway 63 {Link without Title} will begin in 2006. Rail The aging Railway between Fort McMurray and the capital is also in need of improvement, which would allow for the movement of more heavy loads to take place away from the highway, and possibly allow revival of passenger service; discontinued by VIA Rail Canada in 1989 . There is currently no passenger rail service to Fort McMurray. HISTORY Before the arrival of Europeans in the late 18th Century, the Cree were the dominant First Nations people in the Fort McMurray area. The oil sands were known to the locals and the surface deposits were actually used to waterproof their canoes. It was in 1778 that the first of the European explorers, Peter Pond , came to the region in search of furs as the European demand for this commodity at the time was strong. Peter Pond explored the region further south along the Athabasca River and the Clearwater River, but chose to set up a trading post much farther north by the Athabasca River near Lake Athabasca. However, his post closed in 1788 in favour of Fort Chipewyan , now the oldest continuous settlement in Alberta . In 1790, the explorer Alexander Mackenzie made the first recorded description of the oil sands. By that time, trading between the explorers and the Cree was already occurring at the confluence of the Clearwater and Athabasca Rivers. The Hudson's Bay Company and the North West company were in fierce competition in this region. Fort McMurray was established there as a Hudson's Bay Company post by 1870, and continued to operate as a transportation stopover in the decades afterwards. Oil exploration is known to have occurred as early as the early 20th Century, but Fort McMurray's population remained very small, no more than a few hundred people. The nearby community of Waterways was established to provide a terminus for waterborne transportation, until 1925, when the railway reached there. Abasands Oil was the first company established to extract oil from the oil sands through hot water extraction by the 1930s, but production was very low. Fort McMurray gradually grew to over 1,100 by World War Two, and Fort McMurray was set up by the US and Canadian forces as staging ground for the Canol project. Fort McMurray and Waterways amalgamated as the village of McMurray (the "Fort" was dropped until 1962, when it was restored to reflect its heritage) by 1947, and became a town a year later. Fort McMurray was granted the status of new town so it could get more provincial funding. By 1966, the town's population was over 2,000. In 1967, the Great Canadian Oil Sands plant opened and Fort McMurray's growth took off afterwards. More oil sands plants were opened up, especially after 1973 and 1979, when serious political tensions and conflicts in the Middle East triggered oil price spikes. The population of the city reached 6,743 by 1971 and climbed swiftly to 30,772 by 1981, a year after its incorporation as a city. The city continued to grow for a few years even after the oil bust caused by the National Energy Program , which was scrapped after the Progressive Conservatives took power in Ottawa in 1984. The population peaked at almost 37,000, just before it declined to under 34,000 by 1987. Low oil prices since the oil price collapse in 1986 slowed the oil sands production greatly, as oil extraction from the oilsands is a very expensive process and lower world prices made this highly uneconomical. In 1995, the City of Fort McMurray and Improvement District No. 18 amalgamated to form the Regional Municipality Of Wood Buffalo . Since then, Fort McMurray lost its status as an incorporated city and is now technically a hamlet. For this reason, it is important to note Fort McMurray as such because the entire regional municipality is under a single government, although Fort McMurray is the seat of this government. MUNICIPALITY In addition to Fort McMurray, The Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo consists of eleven smaller communities: Anzac , Conklin , Draper , Fort Chipewyan , Fort Fitzgerald , Fort MacKay , Gregoire Lake Estates , Janvier , Mariana Lakes and Saprae Creek Estates . EXTERNAL LINKS
|
|
|