BILLY BARKER

1

THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
BARKER
BILLY
MINER AND PROSPECTOR by Christian F.
2
THE EARLY YEARS

• William (Billy) Barker was born in England in
  1817.
• His father, Samuel Barker, was a waterman. In
  the early days of Billys career he too was a
  waterman. He worked on the barges that traveled
  back and forth on the canals.
• In 1839 he married Jane Lavender. They had a
  daughter named Emma.

3
THE EARLY YEARS, cont'd

• In the mid 1840s Billy decided to leave England,
  without Jane and Emma, in search of work. The
  new railway developments in England had displaced
  canal workers.
• From the time Barker joined the rush to the
  California Gold Fields he became obsessed with
  finding gold.
• In 1858 he arrived in BC, during the Fraser River
  Gold Rush.

4
THE MINING YEARS

• In 1859 he was issued a Free Miners
  Certificate, a permit giving him the right to
  mine.
• He then formed the Barker Company with 5 other
  men and they registered their 1st claim at
  Williams Creek in 1861.
• In 1862 he sold his interests in his 1st claim
  and registered his 2nd claim. Many miners thought
  that the Barker Co. was foolish because their
  claim was too far down the creek.
• But after two wasted attempts he and his
  partners found rich gold 40 feet under the
  ground.

5
THE MINING YEARS, cont'd

• The set of claims, 100 to 800 feet, found 37,500
  ounces of gold. Billy was now a rich man.
• In January 1863 Barker, now a widower, married
  for the second time this time to Elizabeth
  Collyer, who died of cancer in 1865 at the age of
  38

6

THE LATER YEARS

• In 1864 Barker sold his part of the 2nd claim,
  which had made him rich. He thought he had
  enough money to live on but unfortunately he
  gradually lost all his money, probably due to his
  generosity.
• Billy remained an active miner and prospector
  throughout his life. He was a pauper when he
  died of cancer, on July 11, 1894, and is buried
  in an unmarked grave in Ross Bay Cemetery in
  Victoria.

7
BILLY'S MINING METHODS

• This is the way Billy mined at the Barker No. 2
  claim in the Cariboo Gold Rush
• They used a Placer mining Method using Mine
  Shaft

8
THE CONCLUSION

• I hope you enjoyed my project on William (Billy)
  Barker
• I hope you learned something from it
• I will now answer a few questions