Barkerville history celebrated in documentary series

There may seem like no shortage ofstories from the gold rush town of Barkerville, but a pair of researchers havegone rather far afieldto findstories of Barkerville's citizens.

Amy Newman and Richard Wright are historians behind The Bonepicker series ofmini-documentaries about interesting Barkervillians whose stories didn't end in the historic Cariboo town. Their research took them across North America as they looked at where these people came from and where they went afterwards.

"I just find their stories fascinating," Wright told Radio West host Audrey McKinnon. "It also just satisfies an innate interest I've got and that Amy has it just gives us a lot of satisfaction and it's fun to get the stories out there."

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Wright says his favourite story in the series is the one of Col. John Van Houten, a gold miner and merchant who later went to Tombstone, Arizona, to try his luck in the silver rush of the 1870s.

"He had a run-in with Frank Stilwell, who murdered Van Houten," Wright said. "Two years later, gunfight at the O.K. Corral, and Wyatt Earp avenges Col. John Van Houten by killing Frank Stilwell. He was actually avenging his brother, but in doing so, he spoke for Col. John Van Houten."

In making their documentary, Newman and Wright found Van Houten's cabin, and stood in the spot where he was killed in 1871, which Wright described as a "moving" experience.

Wright says the videos were produced after a successful crowdfunding campaign, and he's hoping an upcoming second campaign will give him and Newman enough money to follow a second set of Barkerville stories to Europe.

The videos are being exhibited at Barkerville itself the historical site's 2016 season begins on May 19 and will also be posted on Vimeo.

With files from CBC Radio One's Radio West

To hear the full story, click the audio labelled:Avenged by Wyatt Earp: doc series tells stories of interesting people of Barkerville history