Wednesday, November

4, 1959

THE WILLIAMS LAKE TRIBUNE

Page 7

Staking their « poke”
game of crown and a

Concentration is shown

THE GOOD OLD FASHIONED GAME

on a turn of the wheel in a
nchor are these people who

me

CAN HE B
“black

on the face of this

jack”? player as he counts up his hand and the

attended Klondyke night at the Elks Hall last Fri-

day.

crewd looks on to see if-he beat dealer—Ailf-Baele.

AT THE DEALER?

QUESNEL — Prediction that
there will be at least 100,000
visitors to the historic gold min-
ing village of Barkerville, now
in the process of béing restored,
within five years was made to
the Quesnel and District Board
of Trade by, Les Cook, parks
branch ranger.

Restoration work in Barker-
ville is now being carried out by
the parks branch of the provin-
cial department of recreation
and conservation. Mr. Cook is
in charge of on-the-spot work
being done and he gave board
members an outline of how the
project was first started, what
work has been done to date and
an outline of some of the future
plans.

A sub-committee of the B.C.
Centennial Committee was set
up last year to mark Barker-
ville as a historic site. This
year the restoration was taken
over by the parks branch, with
some financial assistance coming
from the Centennial Committee.
PROVINCIAL PARK

Property purchases were made
and work started on cleaning up
the town. Then the entire town
was claimed a provincial park.
Many of the old cabins were
marked by signs, a picnic site
opened and exhibit buildings
were set up to complete the
1958 program of work.

“I stayed for the winter and
arranged a catalogue system.
Then in January of this year an
Order-in-Council came through
establishing town as the
Barkerville Historic Park,” said
Mr. Cook.

Then plans for work had to
be made and a policy established
It was decided to recreate
Barkerville in the 1869-85
period, since most of the records
of the era before this period
were destroyed in the fire of
September, 1868.

ation were adopted. First was
on the buildings. This involved
restoring some of the old struc-
tures which still could be used.
“Skill and imagination took
over here,” Mr. Cook said. “ It
presents quite_a_problem_to_ fix
| these buildings up and still dis-

c
Two approaches to the restor-

guise them to make them look
old.” This work, however, was
accomplished with a great deal
of dexterity.

USE MANIKINS

Second approach was that
this was a government project
and the taxpayers would want
to see where the money was
being spent. This was taken
care of by the use of manikins
in exhibit buildings, where the
viewers get a feeling of actually

participating in a __ historic
moment.

Major undertaking for this
year was the Barketville

Museum, set up temporarily in
the saloon of the old Barker-
ville Hotel.

“We reteived some criticism
because we didn’t go for the
visual storage type of museum.
This old style type of museum
is disappearing and is being re-
placed by the interpretive type
of museum, which we have in
Barkerville,” he pointed out.

Mass of the historical mater-
ial is stored in the warehouse
where it can be used and
checked by students or inter-
ested people. Other materials
are used in the various exhibit
buildings.

“As the work progresses, the
whole town will be a museum.
The idea is to have the whole
town as a live museum. Barker-
ville never was a ghost town
and this will be a living memo-
rial to the miners whose faith
got the town going. We intend
to play this theme right away
through,” said Mr. Cook.

MUSEUM SETUP

Explaining the museum’s set-
up, he said that display cabinets
start out with the fur brigade be-
fore the gold rush, then to the
search for gold, Barkerville’s
boom days, the fire which des-
troyed the town where gold
omes from, how it is taken from
the ground, and life in Barker-
ville. There is also a special
room set aside for the Chinese
miners, and the part they played
in the development of the area.
Mr. Cook paid tribute to Bill
Hong for his donations and his
technical advice.

All these things have combined

PREDICTS 100,000 WILL VISIT
— BARKERVILLE WITHIN FIVE YEARS —

to make Barkerville a top attrac-
tion after only one year. Back-
ing this up with figures, Mr.
Cook said that for the entire
Centennial Year of 1958, there
were 5,000 visitors. In a two-
month period this year there were
over 5,000 visitors registered in
ths museum guest book.

100,000 VISITORS

Projecting this into the fut-
ure I can see 100,000 visitors a
year within five years,” he said.
Looking into the program for
1960 Mr. Cook said they hoped
to get four Chinese cabins set up
in the centre of the town along
with an old style kitchen. One
new building of the 105 planned
for Barkerville will be construc-
ed.

Repair work will continue on
the old buildings, of which 15
will be saved. Work will also

start on the outdoor exhibit

There is also a possibility of
work starting on the new museum
building to house the historical
collection. The picnic site will
also be enlarged and work may
begin on a campsite.

Completion of the entire re-
storation project should take at
least 25 years, if not longer.

“This business of preserving
history will be of financial im-
Portance to the entire area,” Mr.
Cook declared. “Tourist business
in B.C. isa big thing and Quesnel
is the gateway to the goldfields.
This town will play a large part
in the development of the area.

“The more development there
is around here the more faith of
the old miners will be justified,”
he said.

Board of Trade President Art
Hinehliffe thanked the speaker
and promised that the local
board would do everything in its
Power to assure the success of the
Barkerville restoration project.

The federal government has
been responsible for establish-
ment of 41 Crown corporations,
a government encroachment to
this degree on the private sector
of Canadian economy.

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