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