The Guns of Barkerville

[bdft]

Took the old woman and the kids to Barkerville this weekend. Its a restored gold mining town in BC's central interior, about 80 km east of Quesnel. It was a rip-roaring wild west town in the 1860's, full of miners and people mining the miners. Its now restored with museum displays and actors playing the part of the inhabitants. Its very interesting and the kids love it and I was quite suprised to find a small collection of guns on display. Of course, in the 1860's, having a rifle meant the difference between eating well and not eating at all so they were a common sight and many of the old photographs show people, men and women, proudly showing off their firearms. A far cry from today's society. With my trusty digital camera in hand I took what pictures I could. Note that the antiques are just lying there under glass. Everything else is just fastened down with a cable type strap. Central BC sure is a long way from Toronto.

That Martini-Henry Mk 3 is in pristine condition, by the way.

Its fairly obvious that the people that wrote the blurbs on these cards knew next to nothing about the firearms. Referring to "guage" instead of "calibre" is a dead giveaway.

These rifles and handgun were sitting out in the restored general store. You couldn't get near them, I just shot through the bars.

And finally a badly decomposed 3 band enfield in the Chinese museum.

There were a few more guns displayed here and there but I just couldn't get decent pictures with the bad lighting and reflections from the glass.
Best I could do. Enjoy.

 

[dingus]

Nice pics they never had that stuff there 20 years ago when i was there.

Its a neat little town the wells pub was quite the place also. I did some Placer mineing up near there and went to Barkerville quite often.

Someone should tell them that Webley revolver is a MKI tho not a MKII Museums go figger

 

[peckerwood]

What is that revolver rifle called?

 

[Amphibious]

two thing froma former employee of Barkerville.

the ones in the general store are fake.

I hope you shot the camel while you were there.

 

[ckid]

The revolving rifle appears to be a Colt Root type cap and ball rifle. One of the US outfits (Taylor's, Navy Arms or one of the others) is currently selling working reproductions of this arm.

 

[peckerwood]

Did they ever make a cartridge variant?

 

[3Beavers]

Did they ever make a cartridge variant?

Fella I know has one(NavyArms I think)in .45LC
Regards,Jed.

 

[Micky Finn]

Some Local Knowledge

I am a local and what most of you will find surprising is that almost all of these historical pieces were found abandoned in various buildings during the restorations, apparently their owners did not consider them worth the effort of even selling. As to the mis-identifications, remember that the persons doing the work were not firearms experts.
I know that many of the very best pieces were smuggled off-site and now reside in private collections locally. Up here in the Cariboo-Chilcotin, a large proportion of the population still consider hunting as harvesting of meat for the winter, Yes, we have Safeway, SuperStore and such, but why pay for what you can gather yourself, so most people don't have an irrational fear of "tools".
That is why many of us live here, "We still have a Self Reliant Lifestyle'. It also why so many here oppose C-68 and other violations of our rights, it may also explain carrying your .22 in the baby's stroller http://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum/showthread.php?t=91826


________________________________________________________________

Never Give Up, Never Give In

 

[Skip]

I presume they are dewats, since most are not legally displayed, even if they're antiques...

 

[Crashman]

Hey! My sister lives in Barkerville and she is one of those "actors" you mentioned. And her dog's name is Micky Finn! She really loves it up there and will likely never leave, a far cry from the bright lights city girl she was growing up. I have never been west of Kenora, but I hope to remedy that situation soon!