Barkerville and the Cariboo Goldfields

by Richard Thomas Wright

The stories of the men and women who dug for gold on Williams Creek are told in this revised and updated edition of a Canadian bestseller.

The legendary town of Barkerville is flourishing today, just as it did more than 150 years ago, but this time under the care of professional and amateur historians. Richard Thomas Wright peels back the pages of history as he unearths the area's history and chronicles the fortunes and the follies of gold-rush-era Barkerville. The result of years of around-the-world research, Barkerville and the Cariboo Goldfields brings to life the men and women of the creeks who came in search of gold and left their mark on BC history. Wright mined the archives to bring forth new information on the development of the Cariboo goldfields and nearby places of interest.

Barkerville includes dozens of little-known historical photos and a complete index. It is the best, most comprehensive source of detailed information on this important national heritage site.

Genres: Nonfiction, History

272 pages, Paperback

First published May 15, 2013

About the author

Richard Thomas Wright is an historical and outdoors writer and photographer. He has published 22 books and countless magazine and newspaper articles. For several years, Wright has operated the Theatre Royal in Barkerville with Newman and Wright Theatre Co. He now lives in Wells, the heart of gold country, just eight kilometres from Barkerville.

Reviews

[Chloe · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think I've been spoiled by Erik Larson's historical nonfiction as this really paled in comparison. There's no attempt at an overarching narrative and it often devolves into lists of various names and things they did with no context as to who any of these people are or why I should care about the amount of gold they mined in a specific year (etc). There were some interesting tidbits but this was obviously created to be sold at the Barkerville gift shop as the latter half of the book is more of a tourist guidebook. However, I did find the walking tour of the town interesting from the perspective of someone who likes to write historical fiction; it gives you a great idea of what kind of businesses composed a small town like this in this era.

[Melanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting book. Really well-researched.

[Sophia Wasylinko · Rating 4 out of 5]

As someone who went to Barkerville this July (and got this book there), I appreciated the extra context behind the sites and names I encountered there. Since "Barkerville" is 12 years old at the time of this post, some information might be outdated or lacking, but it's still worth a read especially if you're planning on visiting the park in the near future.

[Caroline · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting information on the gold diggers and how they arrived at Barkerville. the last half of the book would be more interesting if you were at Barkerville and used it as a guide

[Lisa Xie · Rating 4 out of 5]

In depth information of barkerville between 1850 to 1910. Would recommend for anyone intend to visit barkerville.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

the book is nearly as exhaustive as possible: the only references you would need beyond it would be the archives themselves. however it does begin to read as a reference book rather than a history of lives the father in you progress. and sadly, the editing gets sloppier as you go: indicating that the publishing house, editors and possibly even the author were bored by the end, too.

[Kaiti · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loses points for not using any citations. It's very informative but I have no idea where the information came from, except for a small selected bibliography in the very back of the book. Footnotes please!