There are few sites in the world that preserve oil history as well as the Fairbank and Oil Museum of Canada properties in Oil Springs.
So says James Douet, who wrote a 2020-published thematic study on the history of the oil industry for the International Committee for the Conservation of Industrial Heritage (TICCIH).
“It’s still functioning as it was functioning in the 1850s,” the Barcelona, Spain-based industrial archaeologist said about the oil-producing technology on the grounds, after touring the national historic site with a delegation of about 30 people Saturday.
“It’s a really extraordinary experience seeing such an authentic site in action,” he said.
The delegation that included oil experts, historians and preservationists from Poland, Scotland, Spain, Texas, Pennsylvania and parts of Canada had initially planned to visit two years agoto the site where oil was first discovered in North America in 1858.
Delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic, they gathered instead for a three-day conference and tour Aug. 25-27, which included discussing the findings of Douet’s Fairbank Oil Fields-funded study.
Among the findings is there are few sites globally preserving early oil history, despite the outsize impact the oil industry has had on the world, Douet said.
“And the main conclusion was that this place is pretty much the best surviving authentic site of early oil production anywhere.”
Lambton County and Fairbank Oil made a joint, unsuccessful bid for United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) world heritage site designation in 2017.
The site didn’t make the cut for Canada’s tentative list of candidates, and Canadian officials at the time said the site “did not adequately demonstrate international reach and influence,” Lambton County officials have reported.
With information now being shared internationally from Douet’s report, plans are to resubmit for consideration at the next intake, expected as early as 2025, said Lambton cultural services general manager Andrew Meyer.
A Polish delegation at the Lambton conference has proposed making a joint application that includes Lambton and Polish sites, to bolster chances for success, he said.
“We’re very open to having that dialogue and thrilled to pursue that partnership further,” Meyer said, noting the evaluation process can take up to three years.
“Really this discussion helps us to prepare and look ahead to partnerships that might solidify our application,” he said about the conference and tour.
TICCIH also advises on UNESCO world heritage designations, said Fairbank Oil’s Pat McGee, in a news release.
“The story of Oil Springs is beyond being a Lambton story or even a Canadian one,” the release reads. “It’s believed to be internationally significant.”
Next steps will likely include developing a group of experts with the Polish to discuss how to take things forward, and prepare for when submissions are accepted again, Douet said.