Barkerville Historic Town

 museum, interesting place, ghost town, historic landmark

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The largest historic site in British Columbia. Thousands of visitors from all over the world travel to the heart of the Great Cariboo Gold Rush to take in this unique heritage attraction. Founded in 1862, Barkerville was “The Gold Capital of British Columbia”. Here Billy Barker dug a shaft and discovered fabulously rich gravel, William Dietz who had the Williams Creek named after him and Ned Stout, Mme Fanny Bendixon, John Bowron, Betty Wendle, Cariboo Cameron, and other famous names are part of Barkerville’s History. Around 3 million ounces of gold were produced from the streams of the Cariboo.
During the summer months the town comes alive with a guided tour of the town, Chinatown and the cemetery. There are mining demonstrations, street interpreters, stage coach rides, restaurants, gift shops, photo gallery, bakery, live theatre - the Theatre Royal of Barkerville - gold panning at Eldorado Gold, numerous demonstrations and over 125 restored or reconstructed buildings with displays to view. One can also walk the last mile of the Cariboo Waggon Road up Williams Creek to the Richfield Court House where Judge Begbie holds court every day. And a long distance historic pack trail has been recently cleared from Barkerville across the Snowshoe Plateau to Keithley Creek, passing historic cabins, gravesites, and beautiful subalpine scenery.

In the Barkerville Gold Camp, 101 creeks have reported placer gold production. Recorded gold production from the area totals an estimated 2.64 million ounces from placer mining.