Barkerville, British Columbia
| Barkerville, British Columbia | |
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| Historic site | |
Barkerville's main street, taken in June 2004, showing the historic buildings and a small stream of water flowing down its sloped, unpaved, roads
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 Barkerville, British Columbia
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| Coordinates: 53°3′57″N 121°31′2″W / 53.06583°N 121.51722°WCoordinates: 53°3′57″N 121°31′2″W / 53.06583°N 121.51722°W | |
| Country |
 Canada
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| Province |
 British Columbia
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| Founded | 1862 |
| Historical town | 1958 |
| Elevation | 1,230 m (4,040 ft) |
| Population | |
| • mid-1860s | 5,000 (Peak) |
| Area code(s) | 250, 236, 778 |
| Highways |
 BC 26
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| Website | www |
| Designated | 1924 |
Barkerville was the main town of the Cariboo Gold Rush in British Columbia, Canada and is preserved as a historic town. It is located on the north slope of the Cariboo Plateau near the Cariboo Mountains 80 kilometres (50 mi) east of Quesnel. BC Highway 26, which follows the route of the Cariboo Wagon Road, the original access to Barkerville, goes through it.
Barkerville is situated on the western edge of the Cariboo Mountains in British Columbia. It was named after Billy Barker from Cambridgeshire, England, who was among those who first struck gold at the location in 1861. His claim was the richest and the most famous.
Barkerville was built up almost overnight, and was a case of "growth via word of mouth". It grew as fast as word of Barker's strike spread. His claim would eventually yield 37,500 ounces (1,065 kg/2,350 lb) of gold.
Before the construction of the Cariboo Wagon Road, people hauled their own supplies to Barkerville, either on their backs or in a pack train. Because supplies were scarce, the prices of even the most everyday items were extremely high. High prices for goods in Barkerville did not ease up until the Cariboo Road had been finished, when goods could be transported by huge freight wagons. Soon, movers of freight boasted that they could pack and carry a set of champagne glasses without any breakage - for a price, of course. More women came to Barkerville after the construction of the Cariboo Road.
Cattle were driven north up the Okanagan valley via what is now Highway 97 into Canada to provide meat for the miners and residents of Barkerville.
At first, the town consisted only of makeshift cabins and tents. By the mid-1860s, however, Barkerville had a population of approximately 5,000. Even though its population was transient and largely dependent on mining, Barkerville was becoming lmore of a real community. It had several general stores and boarding houses, a drugstore that also sold newspapers and cigars, a barbershop that cut women's as well as men's hair, the "Wake-Up Jake Restaurant and Coffee Salon", a theatre (the Theatre Royal), and a literary society (the Cariboo Literary Society).
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Wikipedia