This book is the story of the world's second largest petroleum resource, Alberta's oil sands, and interweavel tales from many sources. Little is known about about early First Nations encounters with this material, but there is much speculation. The known story begins in 1715, with Hudson's Bay Company reports in English. Many people helped to explore and develop the oil sands, but piecing the story together took many years. Partt of my involvement was to coordinate the effort involved in conductng and transcribing 117 interviews of modern pioneers, known as the Oil Sands Oral History Project.