Thread: Barkerville BC

Barkerville was at one time (1860) the biggest town west of Chicago and north of SF with up to 10,000 people living in tents, shacks and caves, grubbing out the streams and hillsides for gold. It was a grim place. Summers were made unbearable by the bugs and In winter it was -50F and many people froze to death. Whenever it rained, and especially in spring when the snow melted, the streets were 2 ft deep muddy track. The nearest town was that sold substantial quantities of food was 500 km away so just the cost of food sent many people broke.

Just to make things a bit more exciting, most of the town burnt down in 1868 and it was rebuilt, with the buildings and footpaths built 4 ft above the st level. The alluvial gold ran out very quickly after that and then the mining went underground and a lot of people left but the town remained a working town till about 1900 and the last residents left in the 1930. All that remained was two long streets with houses full of stuff which most people considered as junk which eventually became antiques and the majority was pillaged in the 50's by antique dealers and thieves but there are still many many original items in the buildings. In 1958 it became the Barkerville Historical Town and has slowly and carefully been restored. There are now fully operating restaurants, shops, B&Bs all staffed by people in costume and done and served in turn of the century style. Even the tills are all old school.

There are many people working their trades and lots of shops selling old time stuff . A number of citizen actors walk the streets and really engage the tourists, asking things like "where your claim is, have you had any luck, and did you know that the candy store has a new shipment of salt water taffee" - very clever. There were lots of activities for kids and adults and we watched a pie eating competition see pics below. The water wheel show was two actors, an old time miner and an unscrupulous mine owner trying to raise money to sink a gold shaft - very funny.