It's been 150 years since Billy Barker has lived in the town that bears his name, but you're liable to see him if you pay a visit to Barkerville this year.
He's been hired as a living historian to walk the board-walked streets and greet visitors who want to know where to search for gold in the province's largest historic site.
"For the first time in the history of Barkerville as a heritage site, there will be somebody interpreting the personal history of Billy Barker, so among the many different characters you can meet when you come to Barkerville you can meet the man himself,” says James Douglas, Barkerville's Visitor Experiences manager.
The heritage site once had a Billy Barker mannequin but never a living, breathing character since Barker left for Victoria in 1864. The main reason for this is that until 2008, when Barkerville historians made contact with Elaine Edgington, Barker's great-great-granddaughter in England, very little personal information was known about the man's early years and his original family.
Fed by biographical details uncovered by Barkerville historian Ken Mather, longtime park employee Andrew Hamilton has drawn the starring role.
His portrayal of Barker to mark the town's 150th anniversary in 2012 earned thumbs-up approval from Edgington when she visited that year.
Barker grew up Cambridgeshire, England, where he learned the meaning of an honest day's work as a waterman, hauling cargo on a canal boat for his father. However, the arrival of the railroad killed the family business in the 1840s and Barker went to North America to begin a new life as a miner in the midst of the California gold rush, eventually working his way into the Cariboo.
On Aug. 17, 1862, Barker and seven partners struck a run of gold that had been found earlier at nearby Richfield, but instead of the pay channel being one foot deep, theirs was 40 feet deep. With every bucket of dirt they brought up, the miners were finding the equivalent of $20,000 or $30,000 worth of gold.
"It was suddenly the stupidest amount of gold anybody had ever seen and everybody started flocking to Barkerville,” says Douglas. "The rest is history."
Barker's mine produced 37,500 ounces of gold, worth more than $50 million in today's market.
Barkerville opened May 15 for a season that runs through Sept. 28.
For more information, go to barkerville.ca.