Kelly's Hotel

Mrs. L. M. McKinnon, Prop.

“WHERE THE TOURISTS ARE HAPPY” Full of Historic Associations

BARKERVILLE - - - B.C.

BARKERVILLE

By Mr. T. A. Blair.

On reaching Barkerville, the summer visitor is struck with its quaint peculiarities. Built in the bed of the famous old Williams Creek, walled around by steep mountain sides, this historic mining town has little chance for expansion. In the days of her pre-eminence when Barkerville was a bedlam of babbling tongues (nearly every civilized or semi-civilized country having its quota of representatives) each nationality erected a flag-pole as a mark of loyalty to their fatherland. These flag-poles still stand and are silent monuments that speak for those departed souls.

Since the old days the modern hydraulic plant has sent down millions of tons of debris, and for years a river of muddy water rushing down the main street was not an inviting spectacle, but in the mad rush for gold, such slight inconveniences were forgotten. In order to keep on top of the earth it was necessary for inhabitants to raise their buildings each year, until the street level rose 30 feet above its original foundation. Unexpectedly the Government built a bulk-head around the town, leaving many of the buildings perched high in the air.

THIRTY-SEVEN