Title based on the following caption from the NFB Photo Story: Brightly-painted pipes, tanks, catwalks, futuristic control houses, cracking towers reaching skyward like moon-rockets -- these weird chemical labyrinths of a dozen magic-making companies sprawl for some thirty miles along the St. Clair river in southern Ontario. A 360-million-dollar enterprise, this is the heart of Canada's petrochemical industry. Sarnia, on the river just south of Lake Huron, first got started in the petroleum business in the 1850's when the first oil well in North America blew in at nearby Oil Springs. In 1897 the first company went into operation on the river bank. Refineries attract other industries and with the help of such essential endowments as water, electricity, salt, transportation and markets, Sarnia soon became the centre for a thriving oil industry! The big boom in petrochemicals came in 1942 when wartime shortages sparked the search for artificial rubber. Discoveries in plastics, synthetic fibres and detergents brought new plants clustering in the chain-reaction expansion that has marked all petrochemical boom centres. The petrochemical industry -- fastest-growing in the world, increases at the rate of 19% a year. New processes produce new products and markets daily. Sarnia's population has doubled in the last 10 years as Chemical Valley provides the most stable labour force in the country with one of the highest average wages. The riverbank town with the weird chemical landscape has grown into a petroleum powerhouse. New uses for petrochemicals are being discovered at the rate of 300 a year. In construction, engineers predict an all-plastic house by 1968. A new plastic is hard enough to make into nails, beams, sheathing. New fabrics are strong, colourful, need no ironing. Tires are safer, wear longer. Toys are cheap, safe, indestructible. Petroleum -- truly a magic river of riches, and it flows right down the middle of Sarnia's Chemical Valley.
