Part of the Ghost Towns of Canada series
Fuelled by true stories of gold nuggets the size of fists, 30,000 prospectors made their way up the Cariboo Trail in the 1860s, staking thousands of claims along Williams Creek. One of these individuals, a former bargeman from England, would use an innovative shaft-mining technique to strike it rich. Billy Barker and many other early prospectors made their fortunes in this hard northern country, a place that boasted fantastic amounts of gold, but because of its isolation, often had no food.
Barkerville would come to be known not only for money-making opportunities, but also for its cultural openness. Almost half of the town's population were Chinese, migrants coming north from the California gold rush who adjusted well to the tough living conditions. In addition, Justice Matthew Bailey Begbie, among other notable decisions affecting minority populations, convicted an American for assaulting a Native man based solely on the testimony of other Natives. This was a first in British Columbia's history.
Titles included in this series:
Ireland's Eye, Newfoundland
Grosse Île, Québec
Val Jalbert, Québec
Silver Islet, Ontario
Depot Harbour, Ontario
Creighton, Ontario
Ghost Town Trail, Saskatchewan
Rowley, Alberta
Nordegg, Alberta
Sandon, British Columbia
Ocean Falls, British Columbia
Cassiar, British Columbia
