1920: Dr. Karl A. Clark joined the Research Council of Alberta and became interested in the methods of oil sand separation.

1921: The Scientific and Industrial Research Council of Alberta was formed on January 6. It identified various areas for research, including coal resources, mineral deposits, and the tar sands. The Research Council of Alberta was the first such government research council of Canada.

1921: Thomas Draper had secured a lease at Waterways. In 1922 he opened up a quarry and began to do business as The McMurray Asphaltum & Oil Company. It was destroyed by fire in 1924.

1921: The Alcan Oil Company, formed by New York City policemen, drills for oil in the Bitumount area approximately 90 kilometres north of Fort McMurray. This lease was taken over by Robert Fitzsimmons in 1922.

1923: Dr. Karl A. Clark, along with his associate Sidney M. Blair, built a small separation unit in the basement of the University of Alberta power plant.

1924: A separation plant was built in the Dunvegan railways yards, based on Clark's design.

1925: Thomas Draper began experimenting with oil sands as a paving material, both untreated or mixed with asphalt. He had several road paving contracts, among them sections of pavement in Medicine Hat and Vegreville, a portion of Wellington Street in Ottawa, and part of Parliament Hill.

1925: Fitzsimmons constructs model hot-water separation plant at Bitumount site.

1927: The Alcan Oil Company became the International Bitumen Company, under the control of Robert Fitzsimmons. Alcan did some drilling in the 1920's and was as unsuccessful as other firms. Fitzsimmons concluded that mining and surface extraction would be the best commercial process.

1927: Clark experimented using bitumen for road surfacing on a 600 foot stretch of the St. Albert Trail. Ultimately, Clark's goal was that bitumen should be used as a base for motor fuels and lubricants.

1928: Dr. Clark and Sidney Blair were granted a Canadian patent for the hot water process.

1929: Fitzsimmons continued to drill in the Bitumount, Alberta area on leases that he had acquired in the 1920's. By mid 1930 Fitzsimmons was operating a small hot water separation plant. His plant was primitive and consisted mainly of scavenged equipment but it worked sufficiently well to produce a roofing tar used in Edmonton. He later produced the first products refined adequately enough to be used as commercial fuels. The plant was rebuilt in 1931. After having spent all of his capital reserves on development, Fitzsimmons could not afford to expand nor operate the plant between the years 1932 - 1937.

1929: The Dunvegan separation plant was redesigned, dismantled and moved from north Edmonton to a site on the Clearwater River near Waterways. The quality of the bitumen product ensured that this plant became a model for future projects.