(Image from BC Archives A-01144)Ever since the visit to Barkerville, I have been wanting to find out more about Billy Barker who found Gold at Barkerville.
Billy Barker was born in Cornwall England and came to Canada in 1858. He was a Canal operator in England and with the arrival of trains, the water travel was becoming less popular. Barker went to US first, hoping to strike gold at the California Gold rush, he then moved to Canada.
In 1861, a party led by William "Dutch Bill", found gold in a stream up the Fraser river and they named it Williams Creek in Dutch Bill's honor.
Most of the mining activity was confined to the portion of the creek above the canyon where gold was found at a shallow depth. Billy Barker was planning to stake the area around Williams creek, but all the available land was staked around the creek. He decided to stake the area where Barkerville is right now, a decision that was laughed at by everyone. Because that area was downstream beneath the canyon. Everyone knew there wouldn't be any gold there. He was the instant fool of Barkerville.
Most of the mining activity was confined to the portion of the creek above the canyon where gold was found at a shallow depth. Billy Barker was planning to stake the area around Williams creek, but all the available land was staked around the creek. He decided to stake the area where Barkerville is right now, a decision that was laughed at by everyone. Because that area was downstream beneath the canyon. Everyone knew there wouldn't be any gold there. He was the instant fool of Barkerville.
Billy Barker continued to dig in search of gold and he found none. He decided to dig one last time before calling it quits. He dug 40 feet, 50, feet and at 52 feet he hit pay dirt. A single pan yielded gold that was worth $5 and withing 48 hours they managed to get 1700gm of gold(today's equivalent of 8 million dollar worth of gold!)
There has been many stories about Billy Barker. One says he used to sing when he entered a saloon
"I'm English Bill,
Never worked and never will,
Get away girls,
Or I'll tousle your curls!"
Within days Barkerville was the town, the population swelled from 10 to 4000 in a short span. Barkerville suddenly became famous.
Billy Barker remarried and the legend is that his wife enjoyed spending the money! Billy Barker never striked gold again and when the money ran out, so did the wife.
Billy Barker died as a pauper in an old age home in Victoria. He died on July 11, 1896
BC Archives images of BarkerVille
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