by Fred W. Ludditt (Author)
Barkerville Lives On! First published in 1969, Barkerville Days is the nearest thing we have to a definitive history of one of the world's most colourful gold rushes.
It has taken more than a hundred years for the first truly extensive and carefully researched story of Barkerville and its Cariboo goldfields to be placed between covers of a comprehensive volume. This book, rich in fact and anecdotal history, is the work of a do-it-yourself miner-historian, a mining man who talked the language of the last of the originals and their first descendants. A dedicated gatherer of the authoritative story of the Cariboo, centering on Barkerville, Fred Ludditt has done for that area what another Mitchell Press author, the late Walter R. Hamilton, did for the Klondike in his book The Yukon Story. Here is the priceless product of interviews which can never be done again. It is the story of how Billy Barker's claim suddenly sprouted the lusty town of Barkerville far inland from the sea in the upper headwaters of British Columbia's famed Fraser River. Barkerville Camp, which in its heyday was the most populous place on the continent west of Toronto and north of San Francisco, will live on in these pages for posterity to know.Author Biography
Born in Birmingham, Alfred William 'Fred' Ludditt came as a young child to Saskatchewan where his father worked as a stonemason. This trade encouraged Fred Ludditt's interest in geology and mining. He moved to the Kootenays in 1927 and prospected around Nelson. He placer mined on the Fraser and Quesnel Rivers in 1930, then settled in Barkerville until 1937. After a five-year stint as a miner at Zeballos on Vancouver Island, he returned to Barkerville where he began his campaign to preserve Barkerville as an historic site. This passion resulted in his anecdotal history of the town.