25/07/2024
Those of us who have lived, loved and embraced Barkerville and Wells we are hopeful, maybe even optimistic, that good winds, wet weather and strong fire crews will turn the tide and save a site that is the very essence of the beginning of colonial history in B.C. – like it or not. The gold of Cariboo brought the Cariboo Waggon Road to the colony – which brought the wheel to the interior of the region. The resulting gold brought British Columbia into Confederation with Canada. All this we know.
Hopefully this will be saved.
But let us not forget that as we hope and pray much of Cariboo and goldrush history is being lost, all well we hope for Barkerville and Wells to be saved.
Some rural homes are gone – lives damaged. The Antler City ruins are gone. Grouse Creek town and cabins gone. The graves of AJK and Royal Engineer Goskirk have been swept over. Ditchlines are denuded by flames, mine sites are swept over. If the FIRMS thermal maps are accurate the graves and history of Racetrack Flats are literally toast. They are all part of many of our collective memories. Pleasant Valley is burned; Beggs Gulch, Stevens Gulch, likely Whisky Flats and the old dredge, Quartz Gulch and California Gulch – and on and on. So many memories gone, so much history lost. It will take years of reparations by groups such as Friends of Barkerville and New Pathways to Gold to restore or remediate even a fraction of the losses. A history lost that was so rich that there was a nascent movement back in the mid 80s toward a Goldfields National Historic Park. So much is lost, so much at risk. Add to that the First Nations history and resources scorched – but that is for someone else to talk about.
It is ironic but not surprising to a few of us that this fire swept in. Last winter Winter Quarters Productions cast and crew were successful in applying to the BC Wildfire Service for permission to film a documentary, the story of fires in Cariboo, past and we hoped not, present. We wanted to look in depth at how fire shaped and is shaping our history. Our proposal was accepted with alacrity and enthusiasm by BCWS. We had a crew, a plan, and as it turns out, a prescient script. But, with travel and crew costs, safety gear, specialized camera gear and so on it was an expensive endeavor – our most ambitious to date. Had it come to fruition we would have been in Barkerville and Wells, Williams Lake and other sites documenting these events. Unfortunately, despite the enthusiasm, we were unable to raise any funds - nada, zilch, not a penny in our gold poke. So, we watch our script go up in smoke along with so many heritage resources. Perhaps it would have been too hard anyway.
Cariboo has survived fires in the past and we will again. Let us hope that at end of summer major resources still welcome us.
