In late 1950 oil was discovered near the hamlet. The Whitecourt Cutoff project was completed in 1955, significantly reducing the travel time between the Peace Country and Edmonton. In 2020 the Town of Valleyview and Chamber of Commerce renamed a stretch of the highway to recognize the 65th anniversary of the cutoff's completion. By the late fifties Valleyview had firmly achieved boomtown status having been incorporated as a village in 1954 and then a town only three years later in 1957.