Barkerville 150 Years of Pure Gold by Prince George Citizen

B A R K E R V I L L E H I S T O R I C T O W N Box 19 | Barkerville, BC | V0K 1B0 250-994-3302 | 888-994-3332 toll free | 250-994-3435 fax www.barkerville.ca

Miss Wendle and Church by Thomas Drasdauskis.

BarkervillE

Barkerville

Historic Town is the largest historic site in Western North America, and is a designated National Historic Site of Canada. Barkerville is provincially, nationally and internationally recognized for its historic significance associated with its place in western Canada’s gold rush era and the role the gold rush played in BC joining Canada. Barkerville is widely known as a “must see” for travel itineraries in western Canada. The historic town is also a significant contributor to the Cariboo regional economy and is widely regarded as a unique component of the regional identity. The Barkerville Heritage Trust, as Barkerville’s operating and managing partner, THE PRINCE GEORGE works in conjunction with CITIZEN the Province of British Co-

THE Barkerville, 150 years of pure gold PRINCE GEORGE

CITIZEN is a product of the THE CITIZEN PRINCE GEORGE

Available on-line at www.pgcitizen.ca General Inquiries 250-562-2441 Colleen Sparrow, Publisher Neil Godbout, Editor Alan Ramsay, Reader Sales Lu Verticchio, Advertising Colleen McComb, Creative

Please Recycle 2 — Barkerville 150th Anniversary —

lumbia, the owner and statutory guardian of Barkerville’s heritage resources, to ensure that Barkerville is efficiently managed, entertaining and educational to visitors, and financially stable as the premier heritage resource and tourism attraction for the Cariboo. The ultimate aim is to maintain and enhance Barkerville’s position as a nationally significant heritage resource and tourism attraction for British Columbia and Canada. Barkerville is situated 81 km east of Quesnel, British Columbia in the foothills of the Cariboo Mountains, close to Troll Mountain Ski Resort and Bowron Lake Provincial Park. The nearby community of Wells (8 km from Barkerville) is the service and housing centre for the area (www.wellsbc.com) and is itself a dynamic cultural community, home of Island Mountain Arts, the acclaimed Toni Onley Artists’ Project, the International Celtic Harp School (www.imarts.com), the dynamic indie music festival ArtsWells (www.artswells.com), and the Sunset Theatre (www.sunset-theatre. com). Wells is also situated close to a wide variety of winter and summer outdoor activities. June 2012

Kibbee House Ceremony by Kent Kahlberg.

BC’s Gold Rush Town to Host

Partyof the Century (and a half!)

Imagine… hand-dig-

ging through layers of soggy, worthless, frustrating gravel, hoping and praying the next shovel-stroke will expose a fortune in gold. Twenty feet, thirty feet, forty feet: everyone says it’s crazy, but there’s too much at stake. Then, just when the outcome seems impossibly bleak, at a depth of fifty-two feet, the ground begins to pay. The lead is struck, and the greatest creekside placer gold deposit the world has ever seen is suddenly yours for the taking. This is Barkerville’s story.

The Cariboo region of British Columbia’s central interior has been profoundly shaped by gold, thanks to a simple, working-class English prospector named Billy Barker who, in 1862, spearheaded a twenty-year, multibillion dollar industrial revoJune 2012

lution that literally helped build a Province. The extraordinary historic town of Barkerville, named in Billy’s honour, now stands as a living testament to these golden beginnings. Declared a National Historic Site of Canada in 1923, and later a Provincial Heritage Site in 1958, Barkerville is now the largest living-history museum in western North America. Barkerville celebrates its 150th anniversary in 2012, and the year is full of exciting adventures for the more than 65,000 international visitors who flock to “BC’s Gold Rush Town” annually. The signature event for Barkerville’s year-long sesquicentennial celebrations will take place August 11th & 12th, 2012. The event will officially commemorate the 150th anniversary of Billy Barker’s astonishing gold discovery in August 1862, and the subsequent birth of Barkerville Historic Town. During the weekendlong gala visitors to Barkerville will also be treated to the triumphant return of the Canadian National Gold Panning Championships, hosted by 5-time World Invitational Gold Panning Champion and lifetime Barkerville resident, Scott Rea.

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Gold Diggers by Kent Kahlberg.

James Douglas by Kent Kahlberg.

By James Douglas Barkerville Historic Town

t is commonly said that gold was first discovered in British Columbia somewhere on the Fraser River in

spring of 1858. News quickly spread to San Francisco later that summer, as if by accident, and the ensuing gold rush saw nearly thirty thousand international treasure-seekers flood into the Hudson’s Bay

Company-held lands north of Oregon, laying the foundation for what would eventually become the sixth Province of Canada. It is the story of British Columbia… but it isn’t entirely true. Admittedly, 1858 was a very good year for the territory-formally-known-as-NewCaledonia. In 1858 British Columbia was officially declared a crown colony of England, given a fancy new moniker, and appointed its first governor. The news of gold on Fraser’s River, however, was “old hat” to many by then. James Houston had already prospected Tranquille Creek on the Thompson River by 1856, and as early as 1852 Ferdinand Boulanger was swapping samples of “yellow sand” with members of the Secwepemc (Shuswap) First Nations near Fort Kamloops. The Shuswap in turn showed their findings to Donald McLean, the Hudson’s Bay Company “factor” (or, mercantile agent) at Fort Kamloops, who kept news of these discoveries close to his chest

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while quietly sending word about Thompson River gold to Fort Victoria on Vancouver Island. The Chief Factor at Fort Victoria was a man named James Douglas. Douglas knew there would be a lot of gold found on the Thompson, a major tributary of the Fraser River, if McLean’s early reports of the findings were true. Douglas also realized that a gold rush to the mainland was inevitable, and his HBC territories would need to have some semblance of proper colonial infrastructure ready to greet the encroaching Argonauts in order to survive the onslaught. A proper infrastructure… and about six years head start. So, from 1852 to 1858, Douglas and McLean conspired to keep news of any gold discoveries on the Thompson and Fraser Rivers as confidential as possible, while the Hudson’s Bay Company negotiated with the Britain over the fate of New Caledonia.

Cont’d on page 5 June 2012

Eldorado Goldpanning by Thomas Drasdauskis.

Miner by CCCTA.

There’s gold on Fraser’s River! Cont’d from page 4 When word eventually did reach California about rich northern sand bars in places like Hope and Yale, they would be ready. Or so they thought… until the first load of San Francisco miners arrived in Fort Victoria aboard

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the steamship Commodore on April 25, 1858. Four hundred men disembarked at Esquimalt harbour that day, instantly doubling the population of Fort Victoria and testing Douglas’s colonial plan to its limits. As boat-load after boat-load of miners followed, the true significance of the un-

folding events was revealed. By the end of that summer, nearly 23,000 passengers has alighted on Vancouver Island before heading across Georgia Strait to the mainland, and a further seven thousand miners had scrambled overland through Fort Kamloops in

hopes of striking it rich. Almost overnight Victoria went from tiny fur-trading settlement to major tent city and commercial centre bent on supplying those mainland adventurers. Ready or not the Fraser River Gold Rush was on… and the “Colony of British Columbia” was born.

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Gold Rush Trail by CCCTA.

By James Douglas Barkerville Historic Town

y summer of 1858 British Columbia was officially born and the banks of Fraser River were teeming with people. Prospectors, fur-traders, packers, merchants… an astonishing population of nearly 30,000 flocked to the sand bars of Hope and Yale. Some found as much as an ounce of “flour” gold per day. Others drove onward, attempting to reach the Fraser’s headwaters by means of improvised routes through treacherous Fraser Canyon. Cries of “humbug” could be heard throughout the diggings that fall. The seemingly impassible nature of the canyon coupled with rather inconvenient Hudson’s Bay Company supply issues had rendered the colony inhospitable to a large portion of its early Argonauts. Two-thirds of them went home. Those who remained rededicated their efforts. The freshly appointed Governor James Douglas helped resolve the Colony’s provisional concerns and the HBC opened two pack trails that brought miners into BC’s central interior for the first time. By spring of 1859 the Fraser River rush had sped

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as far north as Fort Alexandria, where the Quesnel River was quickly determined to rival the Fraser in value. Gold seekers followed the Quesnel to the Cariboo River, and the Cariboo River to Cariboo Lake. ‘Doc’ Keithly was among the first to find nugget gold beyond Quesnel Forks and the shantytown of Keithly Creek was established by summer of 1860. Antler Creek was discovered later that year, and produced some of British Columbia’s first multi-millionaires. In February of 1861, William ‘Dutch Bill’ Dietz and his partner Ned Stout were exploring a series of small canyons about three day’s walk from Keithly Creek. Carving through twelve feet of icy snow in order to move a few meager pans of frozen gravel to an equally frozen nearby water source wasn’t particularly profitable at first, but by spring Williams Creek (named for Dutch Bill) was showing good signs of success. Then, little more than a year later, the Englishman Billy Barker staked a claim on lower Williams Creek that would change the working face of British Columbia… forever. June 2012

Five Time World Invitational Gold Panning Champion Scott Rea by Kent Kahlberg.

By James Douglas Barkerville Historic Town

y the time Cambridgeshire prospector William “Billy” Barker and his mining partners arrived at Williams Creek in 1862, all of the good ground near Richfield was staked solid. It was widely believed that Black Jack Canyon trapped Williams Creek’s precious cargo at its top end, since nothing was being found beneath ten, twenty, and even thirty feet of overburden material downstream. Many men were forsaking the gravels of the lower creek below the Canyon in favour of entirely new sources along other waterways. Billy and his crew refused to believe this hypothesis, however, as it seems impossible that the gold deposits should behave this way. They staked a large claim together along the banks of lower Williams Creek and sunk shaft after shaft until August 1862 when, at 52 feet, they struck the lead. What a lead it was. In Richfield, men like Abbott and Jourdan had recov-

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ered multiple pounds of gold in quick succession thanks to a pay channel that at its deepest ran about eighteen inches between blue clay and bedrock. Barker and company discovered their pay channel was as productive as the Richfield gravels… only it was more than thirty feet thick. And once they’d bottomed their first shaft, a single crevasse in the bedrock below Williams Creek yielded nearly fifty ounces of gold from a single cubic foot of material.

Three Generations of Eldorado Gold Panners by Kent Kahlberg.

was $19, 320,000.00 in gold recovered from Williams Creek, at $16 per ounce. That works out to approximately 2.5 billion dollars today. The shear magnitude of that feat has left a lasting impression on British Columbia, Canada, and the world. It also paved the way for the salvation of

the town of Barkerville itself, which was declared a National Historic Site of Canada in 1923, and later a Provincial heritage site in 1958. Now, Barkerville is the largest living history museum in western North America, and attracted 60,000+ visitors per year, from May to September.

When news of that discovery reached the ears of the rest of the world, the Cariboo Gold Rush kicked it up a notch and the race for fame and fortune was on. Over the next thirtyodd years tens of thousands of men (and women) traveled to Williams Creek from all over the world and most of them settled in the city of Barkerville, named for the Englishman who had bucked the trend and found wealth beyond imagination on lower Williams Creek. John Bowron, one of Barkerville’s later gold commissioners, estimated that between 1862 and 1896 there

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Stage Coach by Thomas Drasdauskis.

Miners by Barkerville Historic Town.

Barkerville – A Concise History By W.G. Quackenbush, Curator

he Cariboo region of British Columbia - which Barkerville is a part of has a history that was profoundly shaped by gold. Today, the town of Barkerville stands a testament to this golden history, but there were also many other gold mining ‘boom towns’ that sprung up around the same time. In the hills and forests of the region one can find remnants of the towns of Stanley, Camerontown, Antler City, Richfield, Keithly Creek, and more. Why, then, is Barkerville still standing, while these other towns have disappeared into history? To answer this question, it is necessary to look into Barkerville’s past.

n the mid-1800s, gold finds in the Western United States caused many young men from around the world to seek their riches in a number of American goldfields. Early gold rushes brought miners to California, but by the mid1850s, the goldfields there were largely

‘played out.’ In 1858, stories began to surface of ‘easy gold’ on Fraser’s River north of the border. Thousands of men many without even knowing what they were looking for or where they were going - headed north to seek their fortunes in the British territory that is now British Columbia. It was welcome news for the many miners who had arrived in California only to find there was little left for them there. There are stories of entire towns in California emptying in a single day as news of the New North-West’ gold rush reached the American goldfields.

named Billy Barker. He had worked in California without much success, and followed the crowds north to the Fraser River. He eventually moved to mining in the area near Richfield, trying his hand at a few spots around William’s Creek. In time, Barker decided to mine further down the creek, in the area below Richfield. Many people questioned Barker’s decision, saying he would find no gold there. But Barker was proven right on August 17, 1862, when he and his crew ‘struck the lead,’ pulling large amounts of gold out of their mine shaft in the first day alone.

ventually, prospectors made their way to the hills that surround Barkerville. One of the first finds was by William “Dutch Bill” Dietz, for whom William’s Creek (which flows through Barkerville) is named. A small town began to spring up around the area, optimistically named Richfield. One of the miners who was trying their luck in Richfield was a working class Brit

Lottie McKinnon by Kent Kahlberg. 8 — Barkerville 150th Anniversary —

lmost overnight, a town began to spring up to service the miners flocking to the area. The town was named Barkerville, after the region’s first, and most successful miner. Originally, the town served mostly as a supply and entertainment centre for miners, who were dispersed throughout the area, largely living in tents and cabins. Cont’d on page 9

King House by CCCTA. June 2012

THE

Barkerville Heritage Trust The Barkerville Heritage Trust is a non-profit society and registered charity whose mandate is to preserve and protect Barkerville

Barkerville – A Concise History Cont’d from page 8 The population peaked during these early mining years, reaching about 4600 people in the time between 1864 and 1866. 1866 also marked the completion of the Cariboo Wagon Road, extending from Yale to Barkerville. The wagon road was remarkable feat of engineering that greatly shortened the time and effort required to travel to and from Barkerville, which was previously reached mainly by pack trails.

n September 16, 1868, a fire engulfed much of Barkerville, reducing much of the town to cinders. Amazingly, no one was killed in the inferno. While the fire was indeed devastating, the rebuilding process gave Barkerville the opportunity to reorganize the town. Within weeks, new structures were cropping up in a planned fashion. Barkerville’s main street was widened, buildings were arranged in a more organized manner, and a town-wide boardwalk was built to help residents get around during spring floods. In many ways, the shape of the town as you see today owes its existence to the destructive fire.

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Barkerville's Chinatown by Thomas Drasdauskis.

y the time of the fire and reconstruction, however, the original ‘boom’ period of growth in Barkerville was already waning. Much of the ‘easy gold’ was gone. But with Barkerville’s more organized structure and the existence of the Cariboo Wagon Road, the town became a place that was better suited for families. By 1880, a schoolhouse had been built to accommodate the growing population of young people in Barkerville and Richfield.

uring this time, mining activity was in steady decline, as was the population. Mining in these “middle years” was confined mostly to the Chinese community, which made up around 50% of the population by 1885. This pattern continued until about 1895, when hydraulic mining became a widely used technique. Hydraulic mining uses elaborate ditch systems to collect water from the mountains, which is then used to ‘blast away the hillside,’ washing large quantities of gravel through gold-collection devices. These human-made ditch lines, largely constructed by Chinese labourers, are still

visible in the hills surrounding Barkerville. The popularization of hydraulic mining created another spike in the population of the town, and many of the buildings you see today were built during this period.

fter another period of decline, Barkerville experienced yet another minor boom in the 1930s, when a mine developer named Fred Wells began successfully hard-rock mining in the nearby town (that he named Wells). The area stayed booming again until the Second World War, when the nation’s productive capacities were focused elsewhere.

n the early 1950s, with mining activity again on decline in the area, concern about the future of Barkerville began to surface. In 1958 (British Columbia’s centennial year) an organized campaign supported by the Wells Historical Society, concerned local residents, and local politicians resulted in Barkerville’s designation as a heritage site. Today, Barkerville is run by the Barkerville Heritage Trust, and greatly assisted by the Friends of Barkerville.

The BHT has a 15 year Site Management Agreement with BC’s Heritage Branch that began in 2005 Seven local governments are represented on the Trust’s Board of Directors: City of Prince George, Fraser-Fort George Regional District, City of Quesnel, Cariboo Regional District, District of Wells, City of Williams Lake and the District of 100 Mile House Representatives of key provincial and regional organizations sit on the Trust: BC Museums Association, Heritage Society of BC, Cariboo Chi1cotin Coast Tourism Association, University of Northern BC, School District 28, Friends of Barkerville Historical Society, Merchants of Barkerville Directors at Large bring additional connections and skills to the Trust: Tourism Industry, Corporate and Business Development, Multiculturalism, Resource Development, Government Relations

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Barkerville is a considerable benefit to the economy of British Columbia By James Douglas Manager of Visitor Experiences

n incremental tourism economic impact study published in 2010 found that Barkerville Historic Town generated $16.9 million worth of activity for British Columbia’s economy in 2009, with $11.8 million directly affecting the province’s North Cariboo region. The study was part of an Overall Visitor Study & Tourism Economic Impact analysis conducted by Tourism British

Columbia’s Research, Planning & Evaluation team and the Barkerville Heritage Trust. The tourism economic impact analysis was prepared by Paradigm Consulting Group, on contract with the Research, Planning, and Evaluation unit of TBC. Paradigm’s analysis took into consideration Barkerville’s annual operational and capital expenditures, as well as expenditures by independent travelers visiting Barkerville during the summer of 2009. It included monies spent by

Barkerville Arial by Barkerville Historic Town.

independent travelers in the local communities of Quesnel, Wells-Barkerville, Hixon, Nazko, Prince George, and surrounding areas, as well as the operational expenditures of the 18 independent businesses that operate within Barkerville Historic Town. Information regarding independent, leisure visitor expenditures in Barkerville Historic Town, North Cariboo and the province was collected between June and September 2009 through the use of an intercept survey. The results were scaled to represent the importance of Barkerville in motivating a visitor’s trip as well as weighted to reflect Barkerville’s unique, independent leisure visitor numbers by month for the operating season in an effort to capture the incremental tourism impact that Barkerville Historic Town provides to the region. “We’ve always known Barkerville provides significant economic stimulus for the central interior, and to British Columbia as a whole,” said Judy Campbell, Barkerville’s Chief Executive Officer. “This study shows us how significant that contribution really is.” According to study’s findings, spending in the North Cariboo region associated

with Barkerville Historic Town contributed $8.9 million to the gross domestic product of British Columbia in 2009. In addition, 156 equivalent full-year jobs were created for BC residents, with wages and salaries totaling $6.6 million. Barkerville-related expenditures in 2009 also generated $1.8 million in federal, provincial, and municipal tax revenue throughout the province. “In B.C. we are privileged to have such a wonderful historical and cultural treasure as Barkerville,” said then B.C. Minister of Tourism, Culture, and the Arts Kevin Krueger. “This report shows how important this historic cultural tourism attraction is to the North Cariboo region and highlights Barkerville’s significant contribution to the vitality, sustainability and diversity of B.C.’s tourism sector as a whole.” Partial funding for the incremental tourism economic impact study was provided by the Federal, Provincial, Territorial Culture/Heritage and Tourism Initiative (FPTTI). Additional support was provided by the Barkerville Heritage Trust, the Quesnel Visitor’s Centre, and the Heritage Branch of BC’s Ministry of Tourism, Culture, and the Arts.

A copy of Barkerville Historic Town: Tourism Economic Impact Assessment June 2010 can be found here: http://www.tca.gov. bc.ca/heritage/docs/pdf/Barkerville_Economic_Impact_Report_Final.pdf 10 — Barkerville 150th Anniversary —

June 2012

I o n a C a m pa g n o l o ,

Barkerville’s First Honourary Patron By James Douglas Manager of Visitor Experiences

October 2011, the Barkerville Heritage Trust was tremendously pleased to announce that the Honourable Iona Campagnolo, P. C., O. C., O. B. C. had become inaugural Honourary Patron of Barkerville Historic Town. “As an influential and respected Canadian, Iona is a woman of many roles and, among them, many ‘firsts’,” said Sue Morhun, Chair of the Barkerville Heritage Trust. “We are genuinely thrilled that Iona is adding another by joining us at this signif icant time in Barkerville’s history - its 150th anniversary in 2012. “As an iconic champion of the North, and with an unwavering commitment

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to excellence, Iona will help advance Barkerville with its ‘no small dreams’ at a time when we are creating a vibrant and sustainable future.” Campagnolo, the first woman to be named Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia, is a lifelong supporter of BC’s heritage. “I am pleased to be joining the women and men associated with The Barkerville Heritage Trust as an Honourary Patron,” she said. “We are charged with keeping faith with all those individuals who helped to create and build the rich legacy that we and future generations inherit. “In all our diversity of backgrounds, complicated beginnings and bright promises for tomorrow, B. C. remains unique in Canada. Sustaining that special trust

demanded by our shared past is what Barkerville is all about. It is a joy to be associated with a living, breathing evocation of ‘who we were’ 150 years ago and how we came to be who we are today.” Barkerville Historic Town, the largest and most significant living history museum in western North America, was the undisputed centre of the Cariboo Gold Rush. The site is owned by the Province of British Columbia and managed on their behalf by the Barkerville Heritage Trust, a non-profit society and registered charity. Barkerville, a designated Provincial Heritage Site, has three National Historic Site of Canada designations. Barkerville is the anchor tourism destination in central and northern BC, drawing on average 65,000 visitors per season and creating an annual economic impact of $16.9M.

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Chinatown Arch by Thomas Drasdauskis.

Theatre Royal by Thomas Drasdauskis.

Why Barkerville is important to Canada By W.G. Quackenbush Curator Barkerville is significant to Canada and history because it is a cornerstone in the development of the country and founding of British Columbia. In 1858, BC became a crown colony because of the

gold mines of Cariboo, with Barkerville at the center for over 100 years. Since 1958, interpreters, along with the 135 heritage structures, mining landscapes and hundreds of thousands of artifacts in the exhibits have been telling the story of the development of Western Canada. Each

summer there is a meeting of people from all over the globe in the Gold Fields – a truly cosmopolitan community grounded in mineral resources that have been a key to the development of Canada. The preservation of one of Canada’s historic jewels is based on research methods that reflect the Canadian spirit of understanding, educating and inclusiveness. The ebb and flow of humanity has continued to this day. The preservation and presentation of the history of the Chinese from Guangdong Province forms a large part of the programs and presentations. People also arrived from the United States and Mexico, all over Europe, Hawaii, Australia, Canada, as well as First Nations and African-American people with dreams of a future filled with riches and they ultimately formed the backbone of our country together. Most were young men, adventurers - who expressed in letters home the dream of returning with their ‘pile’. It was those who stayed and formed families that created the nucleus of the community that is Canada. Many of the ideas and ideals that formed the thoughts of the mid-19th to

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20th century were carried both to and from Cariboo. Romantic notions expressed in claim names such as Last Chance, Eldorado, and Wake-Up-Jake intermingle with the hard reality of eking out a living as a hired hand mucking gravel from a mine shaft, or washing the laundry of those fortunate enough to pay the fee. And some got lucky, like Diller, who found over 100 pounds of gold in one day. Others, such as Wong ‘the Gold Miner’, lost all his wealth earned in the mines to a typhoon that destroyed the fleet of sampans he had invested in. Gold, luck and good fortune is not all of Barkerville and the Cariboo. Hard work and play mixed with discussions of social, religious, political and historical philosophy, banking, business and theatre, as well as scientific discovery and the testing of technological frontiers has all played a part in the development of both the Cariboo and Canada. Barkerville is the epitome of heritage in Canada and expresses not only our concern for the past but also has formed a model for hard work and informed discussion with time enough to smell the roses and to dream of a brighter future. June 2012

n Barkerville is the largest and most significant living history museum in western North America. It was the centre of the Cariboo Gold Rush, which opened the Colony of British Columbia to European settlement and ensured a Canada from “sea to sea.” n The site is a provincially owned Heritage Property managed by the Barkerville Heritage Trust, a non-profit charity n The Barkerville town site, the Chee Kung Tong building and the Cariboo Waggon Road have all been designated National Historic Sites n In 2012, Barkerville celebrates its 150th anniversary; it continues to define our regional identity and contribute to our economy n Barkerville preserves and showcases historically significant buildings, cemeteries,

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preserving and presenting the history of the Chinese immigrants artifacts and archival material n Barkerville has as much infrastructure as a village – 405 ha of land, a water reservoir, treatment plant and distribution system, a sewage treatment lagoon and collection system, a dyke and drainage protection system and fire alarm and suppression systems as well as two cemeteries, three campgrounds and several kilometres of road n Revenues are derived from private sector fundraising, earned revenues (admissions, sales, etc.) and government grants n Barkerville has a $20 M capital fundraising campaign underway n Barkerville cultivates deep Asia-Pacific relationships: be-

tween 1858 and 1923, a large number of people migrated to Barkerville from China’s Guangdong Province n Barkerville has the oldest and largest collection of Chinese buildings and artifacts in North America, including pre 1900 documents specific to North American activities. The Chee Kung Tong building is the oldest in Canada and was designated a National Historic Site in 2009

n Cultural exchanges between China and Barkerville have begun, and a travelling exhibit to China is planned for 2012 n 18 private businesses operate within Barkerville to provide visitor services such as restaurants, accommodation and shopping n Barkerville maintains about 20 year round jobs and over 150 seasonal jobs

n The people of Guangdong Province feel deeply connected to the “Overseas Chinese” who left that area; the money they sent home resulted in significant economic and social development for the province n Barkerville has been acknowledged by Chinese officials for its excellence in

Judge Begbie by Kent Kahlberg.

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Dominion Day 2011 by Kent Kahlberg.

Dominion Day Parade photo by Kent Kahlberg.

Barkerville hosts Canada’s first Dominion Day (before being part of Canada!) By Ken Mather

he earliest days of the Cariboo gold rush were largely an “American” phenomenon when thousands of miners and would-be miners converged on the gravel bars of the lower Fraser from California. It was these Californians, themselves representing many nationalities, who penetrated deep into the Cariboo highlands and discovered the legendary Cariboo creeks: Keithly, Antler, Grouse, Lightning and most famous of all, Williams Creek. Among this predominantly male population, and the thousands who followed them into the Cariboo during the Rush of 1862-65, any excuse for celebration was quickly seized upon and full advantage taken. “Striking it rich” was the most popular and perhaps legitimate cause for celebration. Most of all was

Dominion Day Dance by Kent Kahlberg. 16 — Barkerville 150th Anniversary —

the “champagne treat” in which the successful miner or miners staked everyone within walking distance to champagne as long as supplies held out. One of the annual celebrations was the Fourth of July in which the Americans on the creek tried to outdo each other in making the day memorable. This fact was not unnoticed by the Canadian contingent.

magine the Canadians’ feelings of pride when the telegraph wires announced the formation of the Dominion of Canada in 1867. They too had an independent country to celebrate and they were fully aware of the implications of the new Dominion’s motto: “From Sea to Sea.” It only remained for them to demonstrate to their friends at home the willingness for joining their new home with their old. And one of the ways of

demonstrating their fervor was through the tried and true method of celebrating. The results were guaranteed to make the wildest American on the creek stand up and take notice.

nd so it was that, at one minute after midnight on July 1, 1868 the good people of Barkerville were startled out of their sleep by the thunderous roar of a twenty-one gun salute. Only in the absence of cannon the Canadians used the traditional anvil chorus, consisting of putting one anvil on top of another and sandwiching between a charge of black powder. When touched off, the resulting sound was deafening and did full credit to equalling the roar of the cannon. Cont’d on page 17

Miss Georgie photo by Kent Kahlberg. June 2012

Barkerville hosts Canada’s first Dominion Day Cont’d from page 16 On that historic day William B. Campbell, town blacksmith from Upper Canada supplied the anvils and no doubt participated with glee in the furor. Of course this was just the beginning.

he morning of the 1st dawned sunny and bright and the festivities began in earnest. A full round of sports including horse races, athletic events, a greasy pole climb and many more occupied the day and in the evening the Theatre Royal gave a special performance, followed by a Grand Ball at Mrs. Tracey’s boarding house. The grand finale was a fireworks display at 11:30 PM which was attended by over a thousand townspeople. Thus the first Dominion Day celebration in British Columbia, and perhaps in North America passed into memory not without a few large heads – no doubt a result of the anvil chorus.

he Americans on Williams Creek begrudgingly admitted that the Cana-

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dians had organized a real “rip snorter” but they were quick to point out that this fledgling Dominion had a long way to go before it equalled their glorious country to the south. Why the new country didn’t even have a flag. And to further point this fact out they placed “Old Glory” on top of a 94 foot high flagpole in front of the Sterling’s Saloon, better known as the Eldorado Billiard and Dancing Saloon and as American an institution as six-guns and Bowie knives.

s Dominion Day 1869 approached, the Canadians had had enough of this American symbol. Their country had been slow in adopting a flag but they were not. Plans were begun in secret and the local artist William W. Hill designed and painted a distinctly Canadian flag consisting of a beaver surrounded by a wreath of maple leaves on a white ground in the middle of the British ensign. Under cover of night on June 30, 1869 the flag was placed on a pole and erected in Barkerville across from the Sterling’s Sa-

loon. The people of Barkerville awoke on July 1 to view, not without some delight, the “new” Canadian flag flittering proudly atop a flag pole 115 feet high, looking down on the American flag below.

he day began with the now traditional Anvil Chorus, followed by the usual speeches and sports including the highlight, a velocipede race (bicycle to the uninitiated). A further highlight of the day was the playing of the “Dominion March” written by the ever talented W.W. Hill. The evening saw balloons and fireworks displayed for the people’s enjoyment.

t is not surprising that Barkerville became the most vocal town in the Colony in arguing that British Columbia join the Canadian Confederation. The local representative to the Legislative Council was Dr. Robert William Weir Carrall who hailed from Carrall’s Grove, Upper Canada. Cont’d on page 18

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House Hotel photo by Cariboo Chilcotin Coast Tourism Association.

Street Music by Cariboo Chilcotin Coast Tourism Association.

Barkerville hosts Canada’s first Dominion Day Cont’d from page 17 He had been one of the prime movers in the early Dominion Day celebrations in Barkerville and was the strongest supporter of the pro-confederation movement. Appropriately he, along with William Trutch and J.S. Helmcken was chosen to travel to Ottawa to

negotiate the terms of Confederation. They returned victorious and on July 1, 1871 B.C. became a part of the Canadian Dominion.

he celebrations of July 1 were such to outdo every celebration that had gone before. The entire town of Barkerville was decorated with evergreen boughs, ban-

ners and ribbons. Buildings were trimmed with greenery and appropriate symbols appeared such as V.R. for Victoria Royal or crowns. The banners read “God Save The Queen”, “Success to the Dominion” and “Union Forever”. Festivities began at 10:00 AM with speeches from a platform decorated with evergreens and scarlet bannerettes wearing gilt maple leaves. Three cheers were given for the Queen, three cheers for the Dominion and the Band played the National Anthem.

he sports that day continued without interruption until 7:00 in the evening and included such events as “throwing the sledge”, “merchants’ race”, sack and three legged races, climbing the greasy pole and a series of horse races right down the main street of Barkerville.

Royal Salute was fired at noon using Mr. Cameron’s tried and true anvils and in the evening a special performance was given in the Theatre Royal by the

18 — Barkerville 150th Anniversary —

Cariboo Amateur Dramatic Association. The evening was further highlighted by a “Grand Illumination” in which every household and business placed lighted candles in their windows until midnight. The day was accorded a complete success and the town newspaper, the Cariboo Sentinel gushed that “we feel little hesitation in recording our belief that when the day has ended our little town of Barkerville will have fairly earned the title of Dominion Town… of the Colony. Barkerville’s enthusiasm did not go unnoticed and it was with a not unjustified pride that the townspeople learned that one of their number, Dr. R.W.W. Carrall, had been called to the Canadian Senate until his death in 1879. The most significant contribution he made to Canadian legislation was his introduction of the bill to celebrate July 1 as Dominion Day on May 15, 1879. The bill was passed and finally some 11 years after the fact the rest of Canada joined Barkerville in celebrating this great occasion.

June 2012

Hamilton and Playfair by Kent Kahlberg.

Cariboo Sentinel June 18, 1868

ANTHEM

FOR THE DOMINION OF CANADA (WRITTEN BY REQUEST)

God bless our native land, Our own Dominion land, God bless our land. May she united be, Wall’d in by sea and sea – Emblem of purity— God bless our land. May she be leal(sic) and true, Mother-land, dear to you In weal or woe; Till a vast nation grown, Ably to hold her own, Supporting the ancient throne ‘Gainst ev’ry foe. May all her laws be just. And all her pow’rs the trust Of great and small. Then shall the nations see A kingdom of liberty, And the Great God shall be Her fort and wall. SAWNEY

June 2012

Cariboo Sentinel by Kent Kahlberg Queen Victoria by Thomas Drasdauskis.

— Barkerville 150th Anniversary — 19

Eureka! by Thomas Drasdauskis.

Blacksmith by Kent Kahlberg.

Barkerville’s general population and the value of gold By Bill Quackenbush, Curator

he amount of wealth gained through the mining for gold in the Barkerville region is one that is relatively difficult to put a fully analyzed figure on, as is the estimates for population. At the time of the Gold Rush in 1858, it was estimated that 30,000 people landed in Victoria and then made their way to the mainland. This was four years prior to the strike that was to make Barkerville famous and approximately six years before the major period of gold discovery (ca. 1863/64/65). The big years were probably 1864 and 1865. Since there was no official reportage of gold, nor the number of people involved, speculation has formed the primary method of telling the story. On an historical level, the amount of gold taken out of the Cariboo ranges between approximately $5-10 million to over $50 million in gold during the latter half of the 19th century. The hard figures relate to the Gold Assay office which opened in 1869. Between June 1869 and August of 1895, $4.3 million in gold was dealt with by the Government Assay Office. From what I have read about the use of banks, I would suggest that not a lot of gold was secreted out of the country, although this is continually suggested to have been the case. There was just not sufficient profit in secreting gold, as there was the liability issue associated with treasure that could be removed by trading the gold to a bank, who took all of the responsibility. Thus the trading in paper credits and money

20 — Barkerville 150th Anniversary —

took over by about 1864. The Bank of British North America was the largest group to take their gold into the Assay Office - at $2 million for the time period from 1869 to 1895. This time period is also missing the early 1860s, when it is estimated that the larger finds were made. John Bowron, Gold Commissioner, in 1895 estimated $19.5 million in gold had been removed from Williams Creek alone. Bowron had operated assay offices in the area prior to starting with the Government in the 1870s, so he may have been more aware of what was going on. However, a full analysis has not been completed and it must be remembered that Williams Creek was only one of several creeks in the area that produced large quantities of gold. The price of gold in its pure state was probably closer to $21, but for the sale to stores such as the Hudson’s Bay Company, the price was around $16.50 an ounce with a discount of around 3%. This price for gold was fairly stable throughout the 19th century. The use of ounces is an easier figure to use than money, plus one has to figure in what it could buy - rubber boots, a must in the mining area, went for $9 a pair in 1870, while dungarees went for $1.25. So one can see that the relative price variance has changed over the years, where a pair of rubbers would sell for around $20 and blue jeans at $40 to $50, and the price would depend more now on the quality. The anthropologist calls this the shopping cart approach to this type of analysis.

However, we do know that gold is now approximately $1600 an ounce United States Currency (troy ounce). An estimate undertaken in the 1960s indicated that 3 million ounces of gold was recovered between 1858 and 1958 using placer techniques and that close to the same was recovered from Hard Rock mining during the same period, with the greatest amount of placer gold recovery occurring in the 1860s and a greater portion of the Hard Rock mining occurring after 1930. Both figures would equate to approximately a billion dollars each at the price that gold is today. Population figures are equally difficult to construct. However, a geographer, Gallois, reviewed the available data in the Cariboo Sentinel and elsewhere and suggests that there were around 4,500 people in the area in 1864, the height of placer gold production. By 1871, there were about 3 to 400 people wintering in the area. This trend continued right through to the 1930s when they opened up the Cariboo Gold Quartz, a ‘Hard Rock’ mine in Wells when the population peaked for the area around 5,500. The population fluctuated according to what was going on in the mining industry. For example, major work that was carried out in hydraulic mining between 1895 and 1930 is hardly identified as historic events. The primary reason for this lack of recognition and often contradictory numbers is that the early time period became a folk tale before anyone started to gather the history. Cont’d on page 21 June 2012

Barkerville’s general population and the value of gold Cont’d from page 20 When the history started to be gathered in the early 1960s, people had already forgotten the great hydraulic efforts and concentrated their research on the 1860s. The great placer works of the 1860s was much recorded in the Cariboo Sentinel (1865 to 1875). So, the period between 1862, when Billy Barker discovered the first of several major strikes on Williams Creek, until the publication of the Cariboo Sentinel in 1865, is poorly understood - the sources are slim at best and most speculative. But, that is the nature of history - things get written and research carried out because it is favoured. For example, most of the history books identify the 1890 to 1910 period as ‘the’ period of hydraulic mining. From my own research, it is quite evident that hydraulic mining was well underway by the late 1860s and continued until 1972, when that technique was banned. In 1960, most people associated with Barkerville did not know anything

June 2012

about the 1880 to 1930 period and most did not consider the 1930 to 1950 period of any consequence (unless it had something to do with the World Wars). It is at this time that I believe that the grandiose figures of 100,000 people came into the general interpretive dialogue. And, since there is not a great number of reliable sources, no one has really challenged this figure. Also, I believe the reason for this attitude is because people who are living rarely see their lives in an historical context and therefore it is unimportant, especially when compared to lives that sparkled with the glitter of great riches. The truth of it is that most of the miners were wage workers, but that a few did get lucky beyond their wildest dreams. Billy Barker frittered his wealth away relatively rapidly, investing in other mines and lavishing fine things on a wife that died within two years of their marriage. John Cameron bought land for his family, gave a fortune away in Ontario, and invested in a saw milling operation (Northern Ontario) that burnt down without insurance.

Why people say 100,000 people is unknown to me. There was certainly a lot of flow through traffic, perhaps much more than in urban areas, as the mines brought speculations of instant riches and/or work. It is quite feasible that over 100,000 people have trekked over the Cariboo Waggon Road to try their hand in the gold fields. But, this would have been over a period of time. Figures from Hamilton Ontario for the 1860s (a ten year period) show a 35% residual population. While the resident population for the Cariboo may have been up to 10,000 people, this is a speculation, as are all of the figures from the mining areas in the Western portion of North America for most of this time. People were just too busy to count heads. The Cariboo was a major gold producer for those few years, but continued as a producer and still continues as a producer of gold, but at a lesser level. Exploratory companies continue to work in the area and to speak of potentially great profits.

— Barkerville 150th Anniversary — 21

W yat t E a r p : A Barkerville Miner’s Avenger

By Richard Wright

hen Tombstone’s Wyatt Earp, Doc Holiday and cohorts gunned down Frank Stilwell at the Tucson trail station in March 1882 they were avenging not only Wyatt’s brother Morgan but also Williams Creek, Cariboo miner Col. John Van Houten. Was Earp aware of his role? Who knows - but it seems likely. Van Houten’s story and the Cariboo/Tombstone connection begins in Victoria, B.C., 1861. Our story of finding the Houten, Stilwell, Earp connection begins in Tombstone, October 2009. Our story is relatively simple. Amy Newman and I operate the Theatre Royal, Barkerville in the gold fields of British Columbia. While combining sometime in the sun with theatre research we were taken with the town of Tombstone, Arizona. Unless you are completely out of touch with western history you know that the often told and much repeated Gunfight at OK Corral occurred here. Well, not actually in the corral, but an alley really. As historical theatre producers for the Theatre Royal, Barkerville, what intrigued us was the authenticity, and in some cases the histrionics, the theatrical aspect and the fact that visitors were learning while enjoying themselves here. The town offers everything from hard rock mining tours, stagecoach rides and the Bird Cage Theatre, through the gunfights and

22 — Barkerville 150th Anniversary —

a shooting gallery to restaurants like the Nellie Cashman house (a Cassiar miner buried in Victoria) to western art galleries. It was an interesting blend of history and the entrepreneurial spirit.

“What we need,” I tossed off lightly, “is to find that the Earps and Doc Holliday traveled to Barkerville. That would make a good link for our American neighbours.” In general what I meant was that we needed to show connections between the gold and silver rushes that took place

in North American between the California Rush of 1849, the Fraser and Cariboo from 1858-1862, and the rushes to Deadwood, Dakota and Arizona in the 1870s. It is clear that many of the men and women involved traveled from one to the other. The glint of gold in my research pan came when I returned home and spent several hours with newspapers and databases. There was a direct connection – a connection separated by only one man and three years. The rush 1879 to Goose Flats began with Ed Schieffelin, an Army scout at nearby Fort Huachuca. In his spare time he prospected the surrounding hills. He was told that the only rock he would find would be his tombstone. Schieffelin had, like so many miners, been wandering the usual route from Nevada to California, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona. It is a long story but in 1879 he found a silver vein here in the heart of Apache country that led to the founding of several mines. Once again the rush was on – to Tombstone. Fortune seekers and roughnecks poured in from mining camps and cities all over the west. The two Stilwell brothers, for instance, came from Iowa. Jack was an Army scout and young Frank was a labourer, with a pathological streak of violence. And from somewhere in British Columbia or the US, former Cariboo miner and Victoria, B.C. merchant Colonel John Van Houten also rushed to Goose Flats, and his death. Cont’d on page 23 June 2012

W yat t E a r p Cont’d from page 22 Van Houten enters our story in Victoria B.C. in 1861 with a notice of bankruptcy. John Van Houten ran a butcher shop at Government and Johnson Streets but clearly business, or his management, was poor and on March 21 a notice appeared in the British Colonist that Van Houten was dissolving his business. By the following summer Van Houten was on the Cariboo’s Williams Creek and purchased his mining license #9524 on July 13, 1862. At this time the gold producing claims were focused at the headwaters, around Richfield. Billy Barker and John A. Cameron had not yet hit the lead and the famous Barkerville, downstream below a small canyon, was a year from its birth and two years from being named. This mining license is the only record found. Barkerville curator Bill Quackenbush did some further checking and wrote: “The name Houten was checked … nothing directly associated [other than the mining license]. I tried Hooten and Hooton and found references to these names … but not the one you are looking for. The Hooten and Hooton names were all 20th century.” Van Houten left the Cariboo and next surfaced in the U.S. in 1864 where his son Charles was born. John had married Mary, a Scot, about a year earlier but we have no place for neither the marriage nor birth, nor for his next three children – all born in the U.S. In the mid-1870s the family moved to Nanaimo, B.C. June 2012

though again the date is vague. We do know that in 1878 or 1879 he was caught up in the rush to Goose Flats where Schieffelin had struck silver, left his family in Nanaimo and headed for the desert. Once there he somehow became interested in the infamous Brunckow Mine. Fredrick Brunckow, a graduate of the University of Westphalia, Germany, scholar and scientist, had opened this mine. Van Houten too was a German. Although it is also unclear where he came by his rank of Colonel it predates the civil war, so may have come from his native Germany and we could conjecture that they knew each other - except Brunckow had been killed in 1860 by his workers who ran him through with a drill steel and threw him down a well. Two other Anglos were also found dead in the now famously haunted Brunckow cabin (it was this cabin that Schieffelin used as a base for his prospecting.) The person to report these deaths was one William Williams. There were three men by that name in the Cariboo goldfields. One was a rough character that regularly beat women and spent some time in the B.C. penitentiary. Is there a connection? Who knows? The Brunckow mine was beginning to gather a dark history of death. Reportedly 24 men have been killed there. Somehow Houten became involved in the mine when attempting to locate a claim. It was a rough time in the territory. Men were desperate for wealth. Cont’d on page 24 — Barkerville 150th Anniversary — 23

W yat t E a r p Cont’d from page 23 Claims were jumped, bodies found and the Apaches blamed. Violence stalked the land like a Clint Eastwood spaghetti western. On November 9th, 1879 Col. John Van Houten had a run-in with some miners or claim jumpers. What precipitated the disagreement is lost, but Van Houten was brutally beaten in the face with a rock until he died. Two men were charged with the murder, James Cassidy and Frank Stilwell. They were acquitted, but the charge hung on them like a funeral shroud (somehow the Victoria, B.C. based British Colonist got word of the story, so it seems likely some other British Columbians were in Tombstone.) Stilwell had come to the area with his brother “Commanche Jack” Stilwell in 1877. By some accounts Tom Horn accompanied them. Horn was later hung for murder while acting as a rancher’s enforcer. For a while Stilwell worked as a miner and teamster. As soon as he arrived he killed a Mexican cook named Jesus Bega, supposedly over a cup of coffee. He was acquitted. In the meantime justice had ridden into Tombstone. The third group in our Greek tragedy arrived in Tombstone by wagon on Dec. 1st, 1879, just short weeks after the death of Houten. Accompanied by their wives and common-law wives, James, Virgil and Wyatt Earp entered stage right. Their older brother Morgan followed a few months later. There can be little doubt that the Earps heard of the Van Houten. The brutal killing was just a month earlier and there had been a trial. Certainly they quickly found out who Frank Stilwell was, as he stalked the Earps like a murderous carrion raven. However, Stilwell, with two murder charges, rumours of robbing stagecoaches and as a known cattle rustler with the Clanton gang, inexplicably seemed like the ideal candidate for a law officer. In 1881 Cochise Country Sheriff Johnny Behan (a cow-boy apologist and supporter) appointed him deputy sheriff. But the tragedy’s first episode was over. All the participants had made their entrance when in October 1880 Virgil Earp 24 — Barkerville 150th Anniversary —

was appointed Tombstone city marshall. Wyatt had previously been a lawman in Dodge City and he and Morgan were recruited as “special deputy policemen.” Further, their friend Doc (James Henry) Holliday, the consumptive dentist, a gambler and a man handy with guns, rode in from the shimmering desert heat.

D o c H o l l i d ay

ton, 19, Tom McLaury, 28, and Frank McLaury, 33, were killed. Virgil, Morgan and Doc, all in their 30s, were wounded. Clanton supporter Sheriff Behan arrested the Earps for murder, but they were acquitted. The feud continued. Months later Virgil was wounded and crippled in an attempted assassination. Then Morgan Earp was shot in the back and killed while playing billiards with Wyatt, March 18th, 1881. He was 31-years-old. Eyewitnesses said Frank Stilwell had been seen running from the shooting.

W yat t E a r p

In a new scene Frank Stilwell, just after being fired as deputy sheriff, and Pete Spence, a Bisbee saloon owner, robbed the Tombstone-Bisbee stage of $3000, September 8, 1881. They were arrested by Virgil Earp, but once again acquitted. The Earp/Holliday faction now had several run-ins with a group of cattlerustling toughs locally referred to as cowboys. They centered around two families, the Clantons and McLaurys, and were led by Johnny Ringo and Curly Bill Brochius. Frank Stilwell was one of this gang. Not an insignificant factor is that the Earp side was northerners and the cowboys southerners (even today there is a small confederate flag on Ike Clanton’s Boothill grave.) The story has been told many times in films, books, magazines and even the web. Suffice it to say the animosity culminated in the gunfight at the OK Corral, on October 26th 1881 when the Earp/Holliday faction tried to disarm the Clanton/ McLaury’s in compliance with a Judge Begbie-like gun ordinance. Billy Clan-

The entire Earp clan, Doc Holliday and friends formed a posse to protect Virgil and his wife as they took Morgan’s body by train to their parents family home in California. There was no railroad to Tombstone, so they rode north to the Benson depot. Here they heard that Stilwell, Ike “Old Man” Clanton and two other cowboys were waiting for them just up the line in Tucson. The whole Earp party took the train to Tucson. Wyatt later said he found Frank Stilwell and Ike Clanton lying on a flat car waiting in ambush. Wyatt hit him with a pointblank shotgun blast. Frank Stilwell was found in the morning with shotgun wounds and three bullet holes. At age 25 Frank Stilwell had paid the price. Cont’d on page 25 June 2012

W yat t E a r p Cont’d from page 24 It had only taken two and a half years, and the Earp’s form of frontier justice. When Wyatt’s shotgun barked out a double load of buckshot in revenge for brother Morgan it also spoke for Mexican cook Jesus Baga and Cariboo miner Col. John van Houten.

Boothill... Boothill... So cold... so still... There they lay side by side, the killers that died, in the Gunfight at O.K. Corral. Theme from the film “Gunfight At The O.K. Corral” (1957) (Ned Washington / Dimitri Tiomkin) Frankie Laine (Film Soundtrack) 1957

In a coda to the story van Houten is one of the few stone grave markers in a sea of iron crosses and piles of desert stone in Boothill cemetery, Tombstone. His wife and family settled in Nanaimo, B.C. where the sons became druggists and where there is now a Van Houten building.

made Tombstone his home, until he shot a local constable and a lynch mob came looking for him. That, however, is another story.

The Earps and Holliday left Arizona after their “Vendetta Ride” that saw a few more cow-boys killed, including Curly Bill Brocius. Doc died in 1887, in Colorado, of tuberculosis; Virgil settled in California and Wyatt became part of the Alaska goldrush before settling in California. He died in 1929. Frank Stilwell killed Jesus Baga, Cariboo miner van Houten and Morgan Earp. All were avenged by the team of Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday. This time Stilwell was not acquitted. There is second Cariboo miner who

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— Barkerville 150th Anniversary — 25

Barkerville Cemetery 800 m (access from end of parking lot)

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June 2012

Voice Use and Costumes at the Theatre Royal, Barkerville By Amy Newman

or actors, singers, musicians and dancers at Theatre Royal, in Barkerville, B.C. it is safe to say that our work is extremely demanding (both physically and vocally) and one must have a well-tuned and welltrained voice (instrument) to withstand our rigorous show schedule, which runs from early May until the end of September. Whenever I have particular questions and concerns regarding my voice, I go to Shelagh Davies, a registered speech and language pathologist who specializes in vocal issues for performers.

The Theatre Royal cast 2011. Richard Wright photo.

June 2012

Amy Newman in Barkerville in one of her costumes. Richard Wright photo.

For over 20 years in her practice in Vancouver, Shelagh Davies has helped people overcome vocal injury and reach their full potential as professional voice users. She is internationally recognized for her work with the voice and its disorders. In 2008, she was awarded a grant by the Canadian Association of SpeechLanguage Pathologists to undertake a clinical research project. Shelagh is a Clinical Associate Professor in the School of Audiology and Speech Sciences at the University of British Columbia. I have known Shelagh for many years and consider her a mentor to me in my work at Theatre Royal in Barkerville, whether it be for a backto-basics vocal “tune-up” or to work on specific repertoire for our shows. Cont’d on page 28

— Barkerville 150th Anniversary — 27

Voice Use and Costumes Cont’d from page 27 The expertise Shelagh offers is highly valuable and it is not an overstatement to say that she has saved my bacon on numerous occasions with her techniques, encouragement and advice. (Of course, half of the year I am not in town to seek her help in person, so many a time we have discussed issues over the phone, me in Barkerville, Shelagh in Vancouver.) Last Saturday I had the opportunity to assist at a workshop for graduate students in The School of Audiology and Speech Sciences at the University of British Columbia with Shelagh Davies. It was a natural step for me to offer Shelagh my services as an actor at her workshop. My appearance allowed Shelagh to show the students someone working as a “professional voice user” in show business. I was also on hand to answer questions regarding voice and performance and how the demands of the work play out in the real world.

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I prepared a few short monologues and songs to illustrate my work as a performer. I took speeches (which I had written) from a few of our past productions at Theatre Royal for this purpose. In choosing material, I looked for the most challenging and contrasting moments vocally to display to the class. I also did my best to choose moments that would stand on their own, for people who have no idea about Barkerville or the Cariboo Gold Rush, so that it would be entertaining as well as educational. Right away I began to think about what I should wear. If I was going to present myself in the context of the 1860s Gold Rush period, then I must appear in appropriate attire, I thought. Hmmm. All of my 19th costumes are in storage at the theatre for the winter, so it would have been a little tricky getting one sent down in order for me to wear it. Richard is back home in Wells now; however, I knew it could prove diffi-

cult for me to give him directions about which dress to pick up from Barkerville – and to ship it down here in time for the event – that all seemed so silly to me, next to the idea of creating a brand new dress! With just six days to go before the workshop, I set to work thinking: what would I make? What pattern should I use? And what can I put together quickly? 19th century women’s clothing is not the first thing that comes to mind when you are trying to construct a complete outfit in under a week. The creative juices were flowing as I opened up one of my old storage trunks of fabric. As I looked through the pile, I found a partially cutout bodice from last year. The fabric itself had been purchased some years before and last spring I tried to get it made at last, but no dice. This looked promising. Cont’d on page 29

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Voice Use and Costumes Cont’d from page 28 Then I continued through the pile and found more fabric, which would match up beautifully with the bodice fabric. Great. It was actually an old bed sheet and bed skirt, which had been sitting in that trunk for about five years. The bed skirt was a maroon velveteen with pleats. Perfect for the bottom of the skirt. The ivory-background-withred-and-green-leaves patterned cotton (the old bed sheet) would do well for the body of the skirt and for pieces of the bodice. The f inal fabric I added to the project was a gorgeous piece of russet-coloured raw silk I had bought for another costume project that I never ended up doing; it had also been sitting in the trunk for a while. That would work for contrast sections of the bodice.

one important point: I had had no time to put in the buttonholes and hand-sew the buttons. So, I decided to pin myself into the bodice and hope for the best! As for the workshop, it was a wonderful learning event for the students and a pleasure to be part of. In addition to my involvement, Shelagh had a wonderful singer/songwriter named Melisa Devost on hand to talk to the students about her experiences of being a touring musician and music teacher. The demands on the voice when one wears different hats can be as challenging as being strictly a performer. Her insights were of great value for the students to hear and her lifestyle as an artist is different enough from mine to create a full picture of the pressures we all encounter as professional voice users. Shelagh gave the students lots of hard science surrounding voice use for performers and then interspersed that with up close and personal demonstrations Amy’s new costume, after the buttons using me as the guinea pig, which I was were sewn on. Photos by Amy Newman. most happy to do.

After cutting, measuring and sewing like a mad fiend for the rest of the week (and staying up until 3:00 and 4:00 in the morning), I had the outfit ready to wear for Saturday’s event – except for June 2012

A highlight for me came after I had done my performance bits and was fielding questions regarding the work and its load on the voice. One of the students asked me about one of the characters I had portrayed (a man) called James Kelso, a miner from the 1860s.

If I were to try and perform as this character with this voice for an extended period, I would do harm to my voice most certainly. And this is precisely why I wanted to demonstrate his voice: to show the students what it is like to be a professional voice user in the real world.

Prelude to her question: the voice I use for this character is actually based on a real person, a wonderful Barkerville interpreter named Dave Brown. Dave runs the interpretation programming at the Cornish Waterwheel and has a particularly memorable vocal quality that I try to mimic every time I pull out the character of James Kelso (or really any male miner for that matter!).

The student’s question was: “How hard is it on you to produce this voice? Would you recommend using your voice in this way to other actors?”

The voice when I produce it for Kelso, is gravelly, gritty – and while quite humorous to listen to, is tremendously taxing vocally; it would be impossible for me to produce this particular vocal quality in a “healthy” manner. The only way I can do it is for a very short time.

I answered with a decisive: “No. Not at all!” I looked at Shelagh as I qualified my response. “I remember when you and I talked about this character when I first created it some years ago.” (Shelagh nodded as I turned back to the class.) “Shelagh’s advice to me then – and it would be the same now – was that since Kelso only appeared for about 3 minutes in the show, it would probably be just fine to use my voice in this way. I decided to keep Kelso as a “bit player” only. Cont’d on page 30 — Barkerville 150th Anniversary — 29

Voice Use and Costumes Cont’d from page 29 “It is certainly not the kind of voice use I would ever recommend to anyone, especially someone with little training or experience who doesn’t know his/her own limits vocally. You need to be an experienced performer in order to take on risky vocal techniques – and even then, they are just that: risky.” With our schedule at the theatre, we cannot afford to take too many risks with our voices, so there is continuing dialogue with regard to show material choices vs. healthy voice use. It is a tightrope walk at the best of times. I never forget Shelagh’s words to me on this subject: “Amy, you and your troupe at Theatre Royal are vocal athletes. Your performance schedule is one of the most vocally demanding I know!” Once the workshop had concluded, Shelagh and I discussed how it had

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gone. She was delighted with the event, saying, “With a few words you created a total character and place and mood and I know the students enjoyed it. You showed them the magic of an actor, and what’s possible with just the body and the voice. It made a huge difference having you there; it brought to life all that dry technical stuff. Now if they ever work with an actor or singer they will have a totally different baseline than what they had before coming to this workshop.” All of us at Theatre Royal look forward to working with Shelagh in the future as we struggle to bring the best of Gold Rush theatre to our audiences. Shelagh Davies can be found at: http:// www.shelaghdavies.com/

Melisa Devost, Amy Newman and Shelagh Davies. Melisa Devost can be heard, seen and contacted at: http://www.melisadevost. com/

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