The largest and most noticeable of those artefacts is a large wooden Cornish Water Wheel driving a water pump. The waterwheel used the power of a river or stream to drive a water pump which pumped water from mines. This particular pump was used on Williams Creek in Barkerville in the early 1860s.
Williams Creek became the most important and richest digging in the Cariboo goldfields.
Not only was this pump employed on the richest creek in the Cariboo, it was the first to be installed in the area. Rescued from oblivion, the pump was installed in Heritage Corner on June 26th, 1930 by the Canadian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy.
THIS PUMP, the first of its kind to be installed in the Cariboo District, was in use on Williams Creek in the early sixties [1860s]. Its erection on the present site has been sponsored by the BC Division of the Canadian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy to serve as a memorial to the pioneer miners of our province.
26th June A.D. 1930
Williams Creek & Barkerville
The Fraser River Gold Rush "excitement" in 1858 drew thousands up the British Columbia river systems in search of the "mother lode." The frenzy spread north to Keithley Creek, Quesnelle Forks and, by 1861, to Richfield on
Williams Creek. In 1862, William "Billy" Barker registered a claim downstream from Richfield, from which $650 000 (at $16 to $21 a troy ounce) in gold was recovered up to 1895.
Barker's discovery ultimately sparked the recovery of more than 5 million ounces of gold from the Cariboo goldfields.
People from all over the world converged on the creek. The initial flood of miners, mainly from California, was balanced by the presence of the British constabulary and justice system and people from eastern Canada. Chinese from Guangdong, China found their way to the goldfields and by the 1880s constituted half of the area's population of 5000. First Nations people (eg, Tsimshian, Haida, Lillooet Interior Salish and Carrier) worked in the region. Blacks seeking freedom and a new life, and people from Mexico, Australia and Europe also travelled to Barkerville, making it a cosmopolitan town throughout its history.
From the Canadian Encyclopedia