A ‘Dramatic’ Discovery

By Dawn Ainsley, Site Archaeologist

Clockwise from top: September 2021 excavation on northern side, facing Barkerville Hotel; buried mineshaft; 1865 photo Barker Co. shaft and shaft house; post fire photo of Scott & Lipsett 1868; recovered artifacts.

During the summer of 2021 the Theatre Royal remained closed to tourists and performers as Barkerville Historic Town & Park contracted the removal of the former failing foundation, and constructed a new foundation in order to aid with the continued preservation of the iconic 1930s building. The initial research for the critical infrastructure project included studying archival files for the Theatre Royal / Williams Creek Fire Brigade (1869-1937), the current community hall / Theatre Royal (1937 – present), the Phoenix Saloon (1869-1872), and the Arcade Billiard Saloon (1867-1936). Features we expected to find included refuse, previous flooded layers of the theatre flooring, as well as the boardwalk and 1868 fire layer. Not much was expected outside of the footprint of the theatre as there has been previous infrastructure work done on and around the building. Preparation for the project began in mid-August with the excavation portion of the project beginning the first week of September. The excavation was divided into three segments. Starting with the structure’s mid-section, there was a week of active digging followed by a week of setting the forms and pouring the concrete under the walls of each section. Due to seasonal high water, freeze/thaw, and the theatre being located over the original creek bed, we did not install a concrete floor. Our project went to a maximum 9 foot depth below surface. The excavation was completed in mid-October, and the project wrapped-up in November.

During the excavation we encountered many expected, and unexpected, features. Refuse was found off most doors of the current building, with date ranges from the 1860s to present; the largest concentration being off the North doors (facing Barkerville Hotel) from the wing to the façade. There was no natural stratigraphy to the material below the theatre; it was very much representative of gray tailings. An unexpected feature found associated with the current building was a cement encasement for the original wood furnace system with bricks from the chimney found nearby.

1865 photo and 1863 Toft painting, comparing and matching features

First building on right is Scott & Lipsett, Theatre Royal / Williams Creek Fire Brigade on left 1869

Several other features that were uncovered included an outhouse under the south wall, remnants of a structure under the south wing, decayed wood from original Theatre Royal/Williams Creek Fire Brigade (TR / WCFB) building floor and support footings, dark ash/ stain layer, a wood post, and most surprisingly: a mine shaft!

Due to the time constraint for completing the project, it was determined that the shaft could not be preserved. We put the material from inside the shaft to the side so that I could examine it once the excavation from that section was completed. Cribbed timbers made up the outside, with a mix of material inside including modern objects near the surface and a base formed of a hard mixture of diatomite and limestone.

Artifacts collected from the shaft included various animal bones (including a duck skull), keys, bottles, textile, nails, newsprint, human hair, and a pocket watch. Bottles ranged in dates from the 1860’s to the early 1900’s and they included Ed Pineau / Paris (perfume), Dr. Kilmer’s Swamp Root, Holloways pills and Chesebrough Vaseline. The pocket watch was a Waltham aprox.ca.1905, and dates retrieved from the newsprint were 1898 & 1908. It is apparent that the shaft was being reused for waste and cess disposal during this time frame. The organic waste and human cess were found within a narrow band third of the way down into the shaft, the pocket watch was found within this layer. Through archival research utilising an extensive photographic collection, as well as file and newspaper searches, I was able to determine that this was a Barker Company shaft. Interestingly, it was in the approximate location of the original discovery shaft. My research began with a post-fire photo of Scott & Lipsett’s Arcade & Billiards Saloon (one of the few surviving buildings after the 1868 fire, owing to the proprietor using water from the Barker flume to protect the building). The Theatre Royal/ Williams Creek Fire Brigade is built directly to the north of the surviving building and this is seen in many photos of the two buildings up until their demolition. There are also references in the Cariboo Sentinel regarding consultation with the Barker Co. for the building’s construction as it would lay next to their workings and also required the removal of a Barker Co. water wheel. There are other archival references indicating that the shaft was open as late as 1898, as it had still been worked into the late 1870’s and was an attraction to share with newcomers to town. The renditions of Williams Creek and the Barker Claim come from two artists, Toft and F. Whymper (2 paintings) 1863, who both painted the claim from varied vantage points. The earliest photograph is from 1865. I am currently working on securing drone footage from the Canadian Claim (which was Toft’s vantage point) to compare with the landscape to see how the painting line-up with the Theatre Royal shaft location. Preliminary comparisons line up very well, but to get more precise data I needed to consider that the original vantage point has since been hydraulic-ed away. Billy Barker had sold off his shares to the Barker Co. by July of 1864, but the Barker Co. was still mining on the creek until 1875, according to the mining accounts recorded in the Cariboo Sentinel, as well as into the 1880’s indicated by other archival evidence. The Barker Co. sank several shafts on the creek, but appear to have remained focused on this general location throughout their tenure. Archival references from several key individuals seem to point out Barker’s Shaft as being located behind or beside the TR/WCFB as a point of interest. The post that was encountered during excavation would have been from the flume, as it lines up with the shaft location. After examining many historic photos, the Barker Co. shaft house has now been identified in several of them.

Research is still ongoing as there was so much material to process. Ideally, I would like to be able to excavate the shaft location further to see what lay beyond our project depth. But, for now, there are still archival files, photographs, floatation samples, and newspapers to explore for more tidbits of the early Williams Creek/ Barkerville lives. It cannot be said with absolute certainty that this is Barker’s discovery shaft, but it can certainly be said to be a Barker Company shaft. Examination of all the evidence thus far is promising. Once I have retrieved the drone footage from Tofts vantage point, I would like to get footage from both of Whymper’s vantage points for further comparison. Now, if you can imagine standing the Theatre Royal up to face the main street with the stage wings as arms, our mine shaft would be in the Heart of the Theatre Royal!

Copyright Dawn Ainsley, 2022. Sources and References were provided with this essay submission. All photos courtesy Dawn Ainsley and Barkerville Historic Town & Park.

Book Review

From Denmark to Cariboo: The Epic Journey of the Lindhard Sisters by Linda Peterat (Heritage House Publishing, 2022; $26.95). This historical account is a delight to read as Peterat has accomplished a great feat in combining an excellent narrative with comprehensive research, such that the writing flows with the ease of a novel but is interspersed with informative, supportive, and interesting historical background and anecdotes (a comprehensive list of citations and sources is provided). The descriptions of historic life and the social and cultural influences of the era are transportative and span from Denmark to Cariboo, Victoria to San Francisco, New York, Chicago, and Calgary to Florida. I was pulled into Peterat’s work quickly as in her Introduction she describes being drawn into history as navigating a jigsaw puzzle with compelling missing pieces (a metaphor sometimes also used on guided performance tours in Barkerville to describe the process of museology) and then addressed the obstacle of presentism in historical interpretation. Presentism was originally a theatrical approach applied during the directorial interpretation of Shakespearean works wherein the director was concerned with how the literal present conditions the contemporary cast and audience’s interpretation of the past. It is also a perspective by which events of the past are interpreted or judged, often unfairly, by present-day ethical, societal, and moral standards or from a position of distanced privilege.