Many years ago a facetious Englishman described British Columbia as a long
crooked trail with a gold mine at one end and a seaport at the other. The
seaport, Vancouver, has grown to be one of the most important in America
whilst Barkerville, representing the gold mine, remains a mining camp of the
sixties.
Few people, even in British Columbia, know anything of this romantic
"end of the trail", for it still remains the end, with only mountains
beyond. Barkerville, sixty miles east of Quesnel, the terminus of the
Pacific Great Eastern Railway, is reached by a steep mountain road winding
through deep canyons and rocky ridges. Passing Lightning Creek the stage
driver will stop on the edge of "The Lovers Leap", a precipice almost
perpendicular for a thousand feet. Here, he will tell you, a young miner
was refused by his sweetheart, who, in reply to his proposal, told him she
would rather die with him than live with him. One shudders as holding to a
withered tree he peers over the rocky edge.
Entering Barkerville one finds a long crooked street following the
windings of Williams Creek and built on the tailings of the early gold
washings. The houses have been practically all built since the fire of 1868
which destroyed the original town, and are in many cases propped up by long
poles as the precarious foundation is undermined by old tunnels settling.
For scenic beauty, for romantic history, for unique situation, mineral
wealth and big game Barkerville is unsurpassed, possibly unequaled in
Northwestern America. The elevation, over 4,000 feet, prohibits the growth
of grain or vegetables, though a few hardy garden flowers brighten the
cottage yards. The population of a few hundred are still occupied in placer
mining which with modern capital and machinery seems to be reviving. Rich
quartz has also been recently uncovered on Lowhee Gulch and hope is
everywhere expressed that Barkerville may again be known as one of the
world's great gold producers.
Shortly after the '49 Californian gold rush, gold was discovered on the
bars of Fraser River and quickly traced to its sources in the center of the
Cariboo District, now known as "the Barkerville area". The first claims
seem to have been located in '58 and by '62 the population was considerable,
and in 1868, the year with which all its history is connected, the
population is reported at about 15,000. There were two breweries and many
licensed saloons, besides gambling houses and dives of various character.
Twenty-five cents was the smallest recognized coin, being the price on one
drink, but gold dust was the ordinary means of exchange. The great gold
scales of the Bank of B.N.A., enclosed in a plate glass case, are still in
evidence at the office of Mr. John Hopp, who is successfully operating in
Lowhee Gulch, nearby. In the same office may be seen the hand made
ornamental bank counter, later used as a bar, and now as office table. A
walnut melodeon is in good preservation, made in the early 60's by "B.
Shoninger Melodeon Company", New Haven, Ct. It was located by Mr. Mueller
in a deserted cabin standing in a foot of mud. It still carries a sweet
tone. The first piano, carried hundreds of miles on mens' shoulders for
Madame Pendexter's dance hall, is still in good repair and tone. Everywhere
is evidence of reckless spending and crude luxury.
It is estimated that sixty millions in placer gold has been taken out of
the district, and it was this wealth that gave both Victoria and Vancouver
their start. Barkerville was the first incorporated town in B.C. and at one
time the largest. Many of the earliest population came from the California
gold fields including some of the worst elements. Lawlessness became so
rampant that Judge Digby was sent out from England to restore order. He
seems to have been the right man for the job and much of the lawless element
was driven out. Joel Stevens, an old timer still living, at 80 years, in
his original cabin, takes pride in showing visitors the gallows where Digby
sentenced three men to be hanged: a Chinaman who beat the law by hanging
himself, a Negro, and a white man called Barry. Barry killed a stranger
name Blessing, to whom he was guide. Whilst Blessing was drinking from a
spring, Barry struck him with an axe and dragged the body a short distance
up the bank, covering it with brush. The following day a prospector happened
to shoot a grouse at the same spot, the grouse fluttering up the bank led
the prospector to the brush covered body. In the meantime, Barry had
reported Blessing as having left the district and had given a nugget pin
recognized as Blessing's to a girl in a dance hall. Other valuables
belonging to the murdered man were found on him, but he died protesting his
innocence. At one end of Barkerville's street is Chinatown, at the other
end is a church. Its wealth of legend would rejoice a Bret Harte or a Jack
London. Mrs. Houser is still active tho in her eighties; she came with her
husband from California in '58, went back after the fire but returned in a
year, and had never left the town till last summer when she visited Quesnel
with her grandson. Many of her descendants are engaged in washing gold in
the neighborhood.
Jimmy Allen, one of the notorious "lucky ones" had a claim on Grouse Creek.
Striking a rich deposit on bed rock, he threw his pick away and vowed he
would never work again. Hiring a foreman to look after his diggings, he
planned for himself a life of enjoyment. He was followed from saloon to
saloon by a secretary whose duty was to carry his gold sack and settle his
expenditures. He also had in his pay an ex-pugilist who attended to his
misunderstandings. He died about the time his claim was exhausted.
John Cameron, known as Cariboo Cameron, had probably the richest claims, the
largest fortune and the most romantic and pathetic career of them all. He
came from Glengarry, Ontario in the early sixties. A big muscular Scotchman
from a Canadian farm, Cameron, attracted by the golden stories, came to
Barkerville with his young wife. She was the only white woman in camp and
did the baking and washing for Cameron and his neighbors. (She died just a
few days before gold was struck.) They were in very straightened
circumstances before bedrock was reached and her gallant efforts to assist
her husband wore out her health. Before her death she made Cameron promise,
if he were successful, to take her back to her Glengarry home. He gave one
of his partners 50 pounds of gold to help him carry the body to Victoria,
and later he took the body with him to her childhood home. In the meantime
jealousy had spread a rumour, which was constantly revived, that Cameron had
sold his wife to the Indians for money to continue operations and that her
death was a mere pretense.
It seems extraordinary that a malicious and silly
slander could survive but it remained a cloud on his life, tho her friends
recognized the body when by ....... .... proofs. Cameron's investments in
the east proving unprofitable, he returned to Barkerville in 1888 where he
died. A small granite block marks his grave overlooking his old claims on
Williams Creek. Barkerville cemetery on Williams Creek is one of the most
interesting graveyards in the west. By some strange fate the paint which was
used to letter the earlier head boards contained some remarkable ingredient
which preserved the wood, leaving the letters in relief whilst the rest of
the wood was weathered away. Owing to this peculiar condition many of the
epitaphs of the 60's and 70's are as plain as if engraved in marble. Next to
Cariboo Cameron an original inscription carries a warning to the reader
whilst revealing the simple affection of his companions. The following,
including corrections and errors, is a literal copy. The date of birth was
evidently a corrected insertion, now lost. R. C. stands for Royal
Canadian.
"In memory of Andrew Hansen, native of Sweden; born in the year of our Lord
????, died the R. C. Hospital on the 10th of Oct. 1883 from the effect
of a fall in a shaft by which he broke his back and died afterward within 6
hours. What I say unto you I say unto all, watch. If therefore thou shalt
not watch I will come unto thee as a thief and thou shalt not know what hour
I will come upon thee."
The following is a wide plank with metal letters:
