Windfall, Alberta

Windfall is a former unincorporated community and ghost town in the northwest portion of central Alberta, Canada within Woodlands County. It is located on Township Road 604 approximately 36km west of Whitecourt, 12km southwest of Highway 43, and 6km south of the Athabasca River.HistoryWindfall was founded by Canadian Fina Oil Ltd. shortly after the company drilled a well and discovered gas in the Windfall field in March 1955. As a result of this discovery, and discoveries in two nearby fields by two other companies, the company developed a pilot project plant to recover gas, sulphur, and hydrocarbons from the three fields through an interlocking recovery process.Built over two phases, the community included an apartment complex, 17 houses in excess of 1050ft² on basements with paved driveways and detached garages, and a school consisting of three rooms, and by 1961, Windfall had a population of 101. Infrastructure included water, wastewater, gas, and power utilities, as well as roads, sidewalks, and streetlights.Due to the success of the pilot project plant, a larger plant was built by the Pan American Petroleum Corporation. It opened in April 1962 and was named the West Whitecourt Plant. A bridge over the Athabasca River, between Windfall and Highway 43, was built in time for the opening of the plant. As a result, the up to four-hour commute from Whitecourt was reduced to a 39km commute. An extension of the Canadian National rail line from Whitecourt to Windfall was completed later that year in November 1962.