The Canadian government and province of British Columbia have preserved and restored a ghost town at the end of a 51 mile road east of Quesnel in central BC.  Over 130 buildings look like they just fell out of the old west.  There is an authentic Chinatown and mine works.  There are actors, horses, carriages, a theatre and mud streets to complete the scene.  There is nothing like experiencing history in a living museum.

Barkerville was at one time the largest city west of Chicago and north of San Francisco with a population of 5000.  In 1862 when Billy Barker found gold in a creek bed in the British territory it started a rush of gold seekers disappointed in their chances in California and the rest of North America.  Over the next 20 years it spurred an industrial revolution that helped build a province.  The Cariboo Waggon Road was the route to the gold.  The highway today follows roughly the same route from Lillooet in the Fraser valley north to Barkerville.  Many towns on the route, such as 100 mile house and 150 mile house, were named due to their distance from Lillooet on the way to Barkerville.

Barkerville is a must-see on the tour of British Columbia.

19th century shops

chinatown entrance

chinatown

actors

the creek

typical interior

Barkerville

church

mining actors