Stony Indians Receiving Payment for Oil Lease Rights on Morley Reserve, 29 July 1929.
The Department of Indian Affairs issued leases on Indian reserves to oil companies interested in the geological formations north of the Turner Valley. Model Oils, for example, began drilling in 1929 on a lease of some 125 hectares on the Morley Reserve, 50 kilometres west of Calgary.
In an arrangement with the several companies operating there at that time, the band at Morley, consisting of six hundred Stonies (Assiniboines), was to be paid one dollar per acre per year and was to receive royalties of 12.5 per cent on any oil produced on the reserve. Individual band members each received money and agricultural implements to a value of fourteen dollars. Whereas the legal terms of oil and gas leases on Indian reserves were established by federal legislation in 1927 and 1929, the specific terms of the leases and the forms of payment were negotiated by the bands. Here, Stony Indians in ceremonial dress celebrate the ratification of the lease at the site of the drilling rig.
When nothing promising was found at Morley, drilling activity shifted southwards in 1930 to the Blood Reserve near Pincher Creek and the original discovery field, again without results. The Morley Reserve did come into its own, however, in 1944 when the Shell Oil Company discovered a large natural gas pool there. Located in the southwest portion of the reserve, the Jumping Pound field later became a major supplier to Canadian Western Natural Gas and the city of Calgary when Turner Valley production tapered off. It was not until 1975 that the Stony Indians enjoyed significant royalty revenues. Since then the monies have been used to develop commercial enterprises on the reserve; to improve housing, health and cultural facilities; and to provide an independent annual income of approximately $6,000 for each adult band member.
Courtesy: Glenbow-Alberta Institute, W.J. Oliver Collection (ND 8-402)
