July 9, 2001, Monday- time to move south, all of 90 miles to Quesnel and the Robert's Roost RV Park. This place was recommended in the Escapees magazine and we could immediately see why. Near the entrance is a formal garden with trees, shrubs, flowers, and streams. Any city would be proud to have this in their public park system. Next, we got two spots overlooking the Dragon Lake with many Canadian geese that have taken up residence.
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Finally we hit summer. Out came the shorts and sandals. Temperatures were in the low 80's with sunshine. A great change of pace from the good, but cool weather of the last few weeks.
While P&K took out a canoe onto the lake, Susan, Hobbes and I did the historic walking tour downtown. With a booklet in hand pointing out what was on each lot during the history of the town, we learned how and why the town of 10,000 developed as it did. From the paddlewheels that brought commerce, to the railroads and finally paved traffic arteries.
The evening activity for a few of our neighbors is to "feed the ducks". Their poop density on the grass in front of the coach and on the water is unbelievable. Twice a day they bring out a lawn sweeper to keep it under control.
July 10, 2001, Tuesday- today's main focus was a living history lesson at the BC Historical Park "Barkerville". An hour's drive up to the mountains brought us to a restored ghost town that at it's heyday, was the largest city north of San Francisco and west of Chicago, with 10,000 residents. Half were "Anglo" and half were "Chinese", who did semi slave labor.
Our first activity was to accompany an hour's walking tour led by a man and a woman in period costumes from the 1870's. Their oral history and commentary were a delight to listen to. They brought the 30 or so on the tour into the activities of the day.
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How did this place get started? Funny you should ask. The California gold rush from 1849, the 49'ers, was near its completion. In 1858 New Caledonia was a British Crown Colony, and some gold was found on the Frasier River, starting the thoughts of trying to find another mother load. In 1861 William Barker, "Bill", had the Caribou find, with the first gold discovered in William's Creek. The local government realized that they had to act quickly to prevent the area from becoming the lawless area that the 49'ers created in California. So, with some folks wanting to stay as a Crown Colony, and others wanting to become part of the United States (which had recently purchased Alaska), New Caledonia became a Province of the "Canadas" as British Columbia. One of the first acts was to declare that all gold belonged to the government. Persons could stop in Victoria, on Vancouver Island, the capital, and get a mining license. Without this permit, they could not sell any gold. Once having a license in hand, they could then stake a claim.
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Some of the potential miners tried to come from the east coast via the land route, and were known as "Overlanders". Walking over thousands of miles, including many mountain passes, took it's toll of majority of these folks. Others chose the water route, around the horn, and arrived in the little port of Vancouver. Once at the gold field, a person could stake a claim of 100' x 100', not a lot of land. With thousands of miners, the town sprung up almost overnight, and just as quickly, the hillsides were denuded for the lumber needed to build the town and shore up the mines. Miners lured by the Barker rumors sometimes were so eager to get started, that they chopped chunks of the creek ice, and placed them into pots to free the gravel for panning.
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In 1868 the community was burned to the ground when one miner and a young women knocked over a stovepipe. It took an hour and 20 minutes for the entire town to burn. When folks saw the fire coming towards their homes, they ran into the structure to carry out their prized possessions, and place them into the creek. By the time they returned with the second load, the first loads had been stolen. Fortunately most of the items stolen were returned since the thieves couldn't go very far!
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The very next day, reconstruction was begun. In 30 days 30 of the businesses were restocked and back in business, including many of the 28 saloons. This time the community fathers put more space between each building widened the main street to permit 2 stage coaches to pass in the opposite direction, and put ladders on each roof. On the roof of each house were large buckets to catch rainwater, and each bucket contained a blanket. So, if sparks were blown from one roof to another, the residents had a way of extinguishing the fire. Hand pumpers with buffalo skin hoses were purchased and kept in the town center at the ready.
As was the case in most mining areas, less then 10% of the population were women. Entrepreneurs figured out ways to make money. First, they found fathers in Europe that were deeply in debt. Agreements were made to pay the debtors if the father agreed to have his 12 to 14 year old daughters sent to the new world and become dancers in the saloons and become "Hurdy Gurdy Dancing Girls". The girls were to work and their earnings would go towards repaying the debt now owing to the "entrepreneurs". What they didn't realize was that the cost of the travel, dance lessons, living expenses, etc, now increased the debts to a 1000 times the original amount. Anglo miners worked 12 hour shifts for $7 per day, often in waist deep waters and muck. Chinese laborers were only paid $3.50 per day. But, the dancing girls could easily(?) make $20 per night. The miners paid a $1 a dance, and the music often started slowly but then the pace increased. A free drink could be obtained by the inebriated miner if they could "ring the bell", actually attached to the ceiling. This involved swinging their dancing partner over their head and having the girls feet "ring the bell". Naturally gravity didn't let their skirts and petticoats stay by their feet. Their only way out of debt was the hope that a miner that had struck it rich, only one out of every 100, would want to marry the girl and repay the enlarged debt. This was often the case.
Barkerville is at a 4000 foot elevation, and received 20 to 30' of snow every winter. As the mining increased, mine tailings increased and hillsides were laid bare. Every spring the tailings and mud would flood the valley floor that contained the town. What could be done? Just keep jacking up the buildings and let everything flow below. To show the extent of the debris and the silt/mud that remained, if one was at the top of the main street, they would have to dig down 25 feet to reach the "black soot" level from the day the town burned. At the lower end of town, 40 feet would have to be excavated.
All of this mining involved "panning" of one type or another. Gold is 7 to 9 times heavier then stones, and 19 times heavier then water. So, swish and get rid of the excess, and be left with the gold. But, it was hard work with a poor life expectancy. Boys from the age of 12 could work in the mines. Average life expectancy was 22 years. However, when you were lucky, you were really lucky. One claim for three partners was paying $10,000 per week in dividends. That would equate to over $200,000 in today's dollars.
During the Crimean War, many young men were killed, leaving an excess of women. So, boatloads of women were placed on "Brideships" to become a governess in the mining camps. Little did they know that the transport was 99 days around Cape Horn. Since women were considered bad luck on ships, they had to endure the voyage hidden in the hold. Also, little did they know that there were no governess jobs, but that they were to become brides to the miners.
Other clever miners worked the system in other ways. One young man noticed that a staked claim was actually 100' x 112' and had the official surveyor come to the sight. This young man agreed to stake a 12' x 100' claim. Over the next few years, this partial claim, yielded over $52,000 in 1870 dollars, or about $1,000,000 in today's value.
Barkerville's first doctor, Dr. Watts, treated lots of gumboot disease. Miners worked all day in the wet, partied at night, and collapsed into their beds with their boots on. Some say they went to bed exhausted, hence they forgot to take their boots off. Others say that they boots were so expensive that they feared their being stolen. After several days, their feet hurt and the boots couldn't be removed over their swollen feet. In the end, Dr. Watts had to cut off the boots and most of the time amputate a few toes. Other treatments included lost fingers, scurvy, typhoid and smallpox.
In this ghost town about 15 private business are set up and we enjoyed a great lunch in "Chinatown" at the "Lung Duck Tong Restaurant". Afterwards we attended the melodrama "Fools Rush In" and continued our education in a most humorous manner!
July 11, 2001, Wednesday- this morning's activity consisted of taking the bikes into town and riding the two river loops around Quesnel giving us a little exercise. The highlight of the morning was watching Phil use an ATM machine for the first time. Watching the smile on his face, you would have thought that he had just successfully landed the space shuttle.
For the afternoon we had arranged for a tour of the West Fraiser Mills Ltd. saw mill. It took over two hours for us to absorb the full operation of this, the largest saw mill in Northern BC. Each day they produce 1.3 million board feet of lumber, enough to build 120 houses. 400 people work in the mill over 2 ½ shifts, working mostly on spruce and pine, with two days per month devoted to balsa. No fir is milled at this facility.
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90 truckloads of logs arrive daily, and from the first entry point into the system, computers play a major roll in maximizing the board foot yield. We watched computer screens scan each log, rotate the log, and superimpose the 2x cuts…2x 4's, 6's, 8's, etc., on the screen. The logs are then color coded with food color so that the band saw operators, again computer controlled and manually supervised, can set the band saws for the prescribed cuts. After the rough cuts are made the wood, still oversized and rough, is staked and placed on railcars that take the lumber into the kilns for drying. There are 13 kilns that dry the wood at 250 degrees Fahrenheit in 38 to 44 hours. After drying the wood goes into the finishing departments to get finished dimensionally, packaged, and shipped by rail and truck.
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Again, noise suppressors, hard hats, and safety glasses were mandatory equipment, but on this tour, we didn't need the respirators that the pulp mill required.
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July 12, 2001, Thursday- a beautiful cloudless sky drew Susan and I to the Dragon Golf Course. This 9 hole executive course was in perfect shape and a joy to play twice. 18 holes, $16. Not bad!
Worked on the web trying to figure out what new computer to buy if we can't get the Gateway replacement from Steve. Very confusing with so many options available. One thing for sure, I won't buy a computer without a 3 year warrantee being issued by the manufacturer. On our old Fujitsu, the extended warrantee was issued by the big box store that subsequently went out of business, and the Gateway, which I thought has a 3 year service contract, only had a one year. Pits! Also, we are complicated by being in Canada. If we buy a box in Canada, it's subject to the GST, Government Sales Tax of Canada, and also PST…Provincial Sales Tax. Upon reentry into the USA, we're only allowed an $800 total of purchases, so duty might have to be added. If we order a box, send it to Steve or Debi, and have them bring it to us in Banff, we're running into a time constraint of the box having to be built, tested and shipped before they leave. Frustrating at the moment.
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