Anyone that talks about "Barney" Mulvaney, does so with a smile on their lips and a sparkle in their eye. Born in Ontario in 1876 to an Irish Anglican clergyman/doctor, the red-headed babe was named Lyster Pelham Trygarn, a handle one day shortened to just "Barney".

His father had two careers, and Barney never settled on a single career after attending Harbord High School in Toronto,

Long before settling in Burns Lake, Barney worked at a law firm in Toronto, a stationary store in Kamloops, as a long shoreman on boats travelling to Mexico, and for seven years on seal ships travelling from Mexico to Alaska.

Barney also went trapping and ranching in the North Thompson area, then headed to Vancouver to work for the manager of the Hotel Vancouver.

Times were tough in the big city so he moved on again. He met Robert Service and once "drank with" the famous author Jack London. Barney even headed north to prospect in the Yukon just after the Klondike gold rush. "Everything I did in my life, I did it for fun" he was quoted saying.

Fun, but still hard work. His adventures finally led him to running pack mules- at first with the well known Cataline, then by himself taking goods and mail from Quesnel to the prospectors in Hazelton.