The Man With the Touch of Gold

If there is a single name that is synonymous with lost treasure in British Columbia that would have to be Neville Langrell (Bill) Barlee, school teacher, politician, entrepreneur, environmentalist, historian, writer, publisher, prospector and treasure hunter extraordinaire.

By all appearances, he scored at almost everything he did or touched.

Bill Barlee died in 2012 in his 80th year after a lengthy illness. But his legacy, on television re-runs and in the printed word, lives on.

Meet the man who spent the best of his adult years chasing (and finding) pots of gold at the end of rainbows in next week’s Chronicles.

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PHOTO: Bill Barlee, second from right, brothers and friends play at an abandoned mine in Rossland. What a childhood! —BC Archives