Tag: Barkerville

Travel Challenge – 10x10x10 – Recap

I was nominated by fellow travel blogger Rebecca of Rebecca Goes Rendezvous to take part in a fun photo challenge.

The rules: Post 1 travel photo a day for 10 days without explanation, then nominate someone else to participate.

Over the course of the past 10 days, I shared 10 travel photos and nominated 10 other bloggers.

Today we’ll recap the photos I shared, and I’ll explain a little about each. Thank you to everyone who guessed. It was really hard to keep my mouth shut.

Day 1 – Artichokes at the Campo de’Fiori Market in Rome, where vendors have sold their wares since 1869.
Day 2 – A stunning blown glass installation called, ‘Glass Forest #5’, by famed artist Dale Chihuly at his gallery in Seattle.
Day 3 – Sea Lion Caves on the Oregon Coast. Unfortunately the seal lions weren’t home. I remember that the smell of pee was intense.
Day 4 – Just one of the interesting sculptures dotted around Les Jardins D’Étretat in Normandy.
Day 5 – Beautiful home of impressionist painter, Claude Monet in Giverny.
Day 6 – Fontana della Botte, or Fountain of The Barrels, in Trastevere, Rome. One of countless places around the city where you can fill your water bottle with clean – and free – drinking water. Do as the locals do.
Day 7 – “Excusez moi, où sont les toilettes?” At the Palace of Versailles I spotted this adorable signage for the toilets.
Day 8 – It was laundry day at the old Gold Rush town of Barkerville.
Day 9 – Looking back at the San Francisco skyline from a little island, better known as Alcatraz – once home to some of the most notorious criminals in American history.
Day 10 – Bell tower at Xcaret, Playa Del Carmen in Mexico.

Thanks for following along with me on this fun trip down memory lane. I’ve really enjoyed it and hope to take part in something like this again in future.

Fire!

It was September 16th of the year 1868, and a long hot Summer day in the gold rush town of Barkerville. According to the story passed from one generation to the next, that afternoon saw a man make an unwanted move on a woman at the back of Adler and Berry’s New Fashion Saloon. A scuffle ensued and a stovepipe was knocked over, resulting in a fire. Within minutes the town of Barkerville was in flames.

Continue reading “Fire!” →

Barkerville Post Office

Because the old Gold Rush town of Barkerville was so remote, its residents struggled to keep correspondence up with loved ones back home. Initially letters were sent with friends traveling between Victoria and nearby Quesnel. It wasn’t very reliable, and I imagine it didn’t help with feelings of homesickness.

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Fashionable Haircutting, Gold Rush Style

Before visiting Barkerville, I naively thought the town was full of hairy unsavoury types who worked all day and drank all night. Hygiene and keeping up appearances never crossed my mind. So it was interesting to learn about the town’s barbershop owned by Mr. Wellington Delaney Moses.

Let’s take a closer look at the sign..

Sorry it’s blurry. It reads, “If your hair is falling call and have it restored before you are bald headed.”. Mr. Moses promoted his Hair Invigorator, which supposedly could restore thinning hair – as well as relieving headaches, and changing the colour and richness of your hair. Basically, a big fat lie that I’m sure insecure locals lapped up while handing over their hard-earned cash.

But aside from questionable business practices, Mr. Moses also made a name for himself by solving a murder. Yep, that’s right. To read more about his impressive sleuthing skills, check out the Royal BC Museum‘s article here.

Bonne journée!

Marla

Columbian Ground Squirrels

Here’s my newest favourite creature – the Columbian Ground Squirrel. They look like the squirrels I’m used to seeing here in Vancouver, just bigger. Much bigger.

Columbian Ground Squirrels have been known to hibernate for up to 220 days (!), waking every few weeks to eat some of the food they’d previously stockpiled – as well as going to the bathroom.

They’re inquisitive and quite chatty, making little chirpy noises while standing on their hind legs looking around. They run rampant in Barkerville and are the bane of existence of anyone working there. It’s not uncommon to see them trying to sneak through the open door of the town’s candy shop, and hear the staff shouting as the squirrels were chased back out. But to a city dweller like me, I wanted to catch them all to bring home as pets.

BECAUSE LOOK AT IT!

I think I’m in love.

Bonne journée!

Marla

John Bibby’s Tin Shop

Because Barkerville is so remote (even today the nearest city is over an hour’s drive away), much of the necessary supplies were produced onsite. A real community was built by craftsmen looking for a way to create a living for themselves while providing the products and services the citizens would need for their daily lives.

Continue reading “John Bibby’s Tin Shop” →