BARRIERE

                                        

BARRIERE

Is a small district municipality, located 66 kilometers north of Kamloops on the Yellowhead Highway (Highway #5) in British Columbia’s south central corner and situated on the confluence of the North Thompson and Barriere Rivers.

In 2003, this town of roughly 2,000 back then, was destroyed by a massive forest fire that destroyed the town’s main industry and employer, the Louis Creek sawmill and damaged property, and even wiped out electricity from the entire Yellowhead corridor all the way from McLure in the south to almost the McBride/Tete Jeune Cache area just west of the British Columbia/Alberta border. At one time, 3,000 people were forced from their homes and about 70 homes were lost in the path of the fire. Despite this, the town has survived and tourism, logging, and agriculture/ranching are the main economic industries. With events such as rodeos, logging shows, chuck wagon racing, cowboy concert among others, The North Thompson Fall Fair takes place every Labour Day Long Weekend and attracts many tourists from the surrounding region.

Apparently Barriere derives its name from the Barriere River which in turn takes it name from a barrier that was formed by rocks and nets that were placed in the river as a barrier to water navigation when in around 1828, the town was used as a fur trading post created from fur traders of French origin. The nets meanwhile, were fish traps that were used by the local First Nations people in order for them to trap and catch fish, mostly salmon that traveled the North Thompson River from the Pacific Ocean to spawn.

Barriere became incorporated as a district municipality (despite its small population) in December of 2007 and at the same time elected its first mayor. Not only considered to be the largest community along the stretch of the Yellowhead Highway corridor between Kamloops and Clearwater, but Barriere is also located approximately halfway between the two communities.

Barriere is relatively small but does have gas stations, library, motels, shopping centre, grocery stores, tourist information centre, restaurants (including 1 fast food), museum, and a 9-hole golf course.

Barriere’s population: 1,209

LARDEAU

LARDEAU
Is a community located in the Western boundaries of the Kootenay region of British Columbia, situated southeast of Revelstoke off of Highway #31. Lardeau (formerly spelled Lardo), was founded in the 1890s, as the site of a silver mining boom when at the same time that several small mining communities, such as Camborne, Trout Lake City, and Ferguson started to materialize. Lardeau also became the terminus of the Arrowhead & Kootenay Railway (n), when the railway line was functional as a point for steamships were used to serve the boom and it was also became a sufficient economic shot in the arm boom for the area and Lardeau had a peak population of about 1,000 people. The boom collapsed prior to the start of the First World War (WWI) when the railway was never completed in the course of Upper Arrow Lake, which forced the tracks to become deserted and pulled up in 1942. Lardeau is now unincorporated and forestry (mostly logging), and mixed farming serve as the community’s main benefactors for the economy. All of the communities in the Lardeau mining boom particularly Ferguson, Beaton and Camborne collapsed just after World War 2 (WWII) and quickly became instant ghost towns shortly after.

LARDEAU’S POPULATION: 62