of Canada against $500,000 in loans that the elder Bell had made. Additionally, Bell invested in an oil well near Turner Valley, Alberta. When the well struck oil in mid 1936, the income from his one percent share was double that of his newspaper salary. In 1946, Canadian oilman Frank McMahon and Bell started Alberta Distillers Limited in Calgary, Alberta. Newspaper career Despite the oil strike, Bell continued to work for the Royal Bank at the Albertan. After seven years of what he called "clerking", he made a bid to regain his family's control of the paper. He convinced five friends in the oil and gas industry to form the Essex Company and put up $35,000 to operate the paper. He then convinced the Royal Bank to give him control, and in mid-1943, was made publisher of the Albertan. Under Bell's leadership, the paper returned to profitability, prompting the partners in Essex to raise his salary to $85 per week. Within three years, Bell was able to repay both his partners in Essex and purchase full control of the paper from the bank. Almost immediately after repaying his partners, Bell convinced them to purchase the Edmonton Bulletin. However, Bell lacked the capital to support the paper which was burdened with labour strife and aging equipment. He made the decision to fold the paper in 1951. While he worked to regain control of the Albertan, Bell also continued to invest in oil ventures. In 1944 he partnered with Frank McMahon and others forming Empire Petroleum Limited, in an unsuccessful attempt to raise capital to drill a wildcat well. Two years later he tried again with two new companies, Reef Petroleum and Tower Petroleum. The two new companies also failed to find oil, but the efforts raised enough money for Bell and his partners to form Calvan Petroleums on the heels of Imperial Oil's discovery of a large oil field at Redwater, Alberta. The company found success trading in leases and drilling rights on crown land, prompting Bell to form several other oil companies in the years that followed. In 1951, Bell amalgamated his various companies into Calvan Consolidated Ltd. The new company held an interest in 77 wells at the Redwater field. He sold Calvan to Petrofina in 1955 for $40 million and, while he continued to trade in oil and gas companies for several years, his focus returned to the