Approximately 90 kilometres north of Fort McMurray is Bitumount, where two of the first oil sands extraction plants operated periodically between 1935 and 1956. The plant heated bitumen in hot water, and workers would skim off the oily gunk that rose to the surface. But its remoteness and oil production in Alberta's south discouraged investors. It has been completely abandoned since 1958. Bitumount was serenely quiet when I first visited in 2013. These photos are from October 2015, and I was able to hear construction on Suncor's Fort Hills project.
