Charles Wallen

Charles Wallen was hard oil - the special term reserved only for those born and raised in the oil producing regions of Lambton County. While he was born in Oil Springs, his career as an International Driller took him across the world, working in Russia, Peru, Mexico, Java, East Somaliland, Barbadoes, and California.

Of all the places Wallen lived and worked, Russia proved to be the most dangerous. In 1911 Wallen accepted a position as field manager for the North Caucasian Oil Company in Grozny, Russia, bringing his wife and daughter. The Wallens enjoyed their first few years in their foreign home, welcoming a son, also named Charles, into their family.

In 1917 when Bolshevik forces overturned the Czarist government everything changed for the Wallens. Suddenly workers who were employed to work in the oil fields, together with Bolshevik rebels, took control of the North Caucasian Oil Company, forcing Charles Wallen to remain as field manager. The new management reduced Wallen’s salary to that of an office boy, and Wallen watched in horror as armed militia took to the street, menacing anyone associated with Czarist rule.

Bands of armed men from the Tartar Mountains attacked the oil fields, looting anything of value and setting the fountains ablaze - Wallen later estimated that more than 14,000 barrels of oil were burned each day by the fire.

Soon it became clear to the Wallens, they had to escape from Russia, even if it meant leaving everything behind. The family’s exodus from Grozny took months and covered hostile territory, taking them on a path over the Caspian Sea and up the Murman Coast.

Little Charles Wallen was four years old at the time of his family’s escape. At one point in the journey the Wallens received help from a Cossack (a group of Eastern Slavic peoples living mainly in the Ukraine and Southern Russia) soldier. The soldier gave young Charles a miniature Cossack uniform that he had made for his own son. At times the Wallens would dress young Charles in this uniform to signal their solidarity with the Cossack people. Upon arriving in Canada, Charles Wallen (the elder) credited the Cossack people for helping his family survive their dangerous voyage.

After months on the road, the Wallens, a family who had grown accustomed to wealth and luxury, had exhausted their funds, spending some of the last of their savings on a boat trip to Astrakhan, where they could reach nearby British authorities and receive safe passage. While at sea their boat encountered fighting between the Czecho-Slovaks and the Bolsheviks, with their own boat taking fire.

At last the family reached British authorities in Vologda where they were given meager provisions and sent on a three-day journey to the port city of Kola. Exhausted and having little else to eat other than stale, black sunflower bread, the family reached Kola in July and were put on a boat to Invergordon on the north coast of Scotland.

Excerpt from the International Drillers Tent Exhibit at the Oil Museum of Canada

Video clip. An actor talks about Charles Wallen's experiences as an International Driller.

Duration: 02:26 - Transcription