Barnhartvale

Barnhartvale is located at the east end of Kamloops, south of Dallas in British Columbia, Canada. This area includes lots of riding stables, farms, and ranches. There is a local store called Happy Valley Foods, and the local elementary school, R.L.Clemitson. The main road which runs through Barnhartvale is Barnhartvale Road. Todd Road and Pratt Road are the main accesses through the subdivided western portion of Barnhartvale. In 1973, Barnhartvale and other outlying communities were amalgamated with the City of Kamloops.

The Name

Barnhartvale was originally referred to as Campbell Creek or Campbell's Creek until 1909. It is now named after Peter Barnhart, a relative late-comer to the area. Barnhart did not live in the community for more than about ten years, but the community ended up by being named after him. Barnhart opened a post office and a chain of events led to the community name being changed from Campbell Creek to Barnhart Vale. The occasion of the name change is that in 1905 Lew Campbell had established a post office at his ranch at the mouth of Campbell Creek and he called it Campbell Creek Post Office. In 1906 Pete Barnhart opened a Post Office in his home and called it Campbell Creek (South) Post Office. With two post offices named Campbell Creek there were mix-ups and Lew Campbell complained about the confusion. It fell to Pete Barnhart to change the name of his post office, and of course he thought that “Barnhart Vale Post Office” had a nice ring to it. So in 1909 the name of the Campbell Creek (South) post office was changed to Barnhart Vale Post Office - to the disgust of longtime residents.

The name “Barnhart Vale” was used from 1909 up until the subdivisions in the early 1970s. The new residents took to spelling the name as one word, “Barnhartvale”. Finally, in 1978 the issue was settled when the the name was formally changed from Barnhart Vale to Barnhartvale to "conform to local usage”.

1865 really marks the beginning of Barnhartvale. That was the year that James Todd and Lewis (Lew) Campbell, the first two pioneers, arrived. The next settlers in the region were John and William McLeod in 1879 and James Frisken in 1887.