Captain Browne worked with Alexander Watson throughout the design and construction phases of the BX.[1]:148 Watson purchased the BX's boiler, engines and other equipment from the Chicago Marine Ironworks Company,[1]:149 who were informed that the BX's construction site at Soda Creek was 167 miles (269km) away from the railway at Ashcroft and therefore the equipment would have to be hauled by horse drawn freighters for that distance. Chicago Marine decided to build the boiler in sections, the heaviest piece was less than 10,000lb (4,500kg), so it was easily transported to the construction site.[1]:149 They also supplied two compound condensing engines for the BX which would use half the fuel of a single engine of similar power. These engines gave the BX an enormous advantage over the other sternwheelers that were on the river at this time, as it cut down on both the labor needed to load the wood and the cargo space required to carry it.[3]:41–43It was later estimated that these engines saved the BX a sum equal to the amount of her construction, $54,531.33.[1]:156
For the hull, Watson turned to local man, William Lyne, who was a portable sawmill operator.[1]:148–149Lyne was instructed to find a good stand of fir and cut the necessary timbers and planks. Intending to build a steamer with the lightest draught possible, Watson built the rest of the BX out of first grade cedar, shipped up from Victoria. Construction began in February when Watson arrived with a crew of fifty carpenters, joiners and labourers and work was begun on the hull.[1]:150[4]
At the end of March, a near catastrophe occurred. The ice on the Fraser suddenly broke up and piled up at Soda Creek Canyon, a quarter mile from the BX's construction site. The river overflowed its banks and chunks of ice were deposited all over the site. The rushing water knocked the BX off its blocks and swept many of the tools and supplies out of the warehouse and down into the river. Luckily the workers had heard the ice breaking up in the canyon and had been able to scramble to higher ground and safety.[1]:149 When the floodwaters receded, Watson was able to inspect the BX and found that the only damage done was some twisted and broken timbers that were quickly replaced. The company swiftly shipped up the replacement tools and supplies from Ashcroft and work resumed once more.[1]:150
When the BX was completed, she had three decks, with stateroom accommodation for 70 passengers and could also carry another 60 deck passengers.[3]:43 The staterooms featured steam heat, hot and cold running water, fine quality bedding and attractive wall and floor coverings. Her dining room could seat 50 and was lavishly furnished, right down to the plates, which were specially ordered from England and monogrammed in the BX Company's colors: red, yellow and white.[5] Off the ladies cabin above the covered paddlewheel a bridal chamber was built, which contained, among other luxuries, a double brass bed and a silk eiderdown worth $150. Many dignitaries, including Premier Richard McBride[6] would travel in the comfort of this sumptuous suite.[7]:51–52
Maiden voyage
The BX was launched at Soda Creek on Friday May 13, 1910, without ceremony.[1]:152,153 Many people of a superstitious bent, especially the shipyard workers, criticized Watson and Browne for choosing to launch a ship on a Friday the 13th. The BC Express Company mollified the workers by explaining that it was the company's lucky day.[1]:153
Watson and Browne were pleased with how the BX sat in the water, her draught was only 16 inches (410mm) at the bow and 20 inches (510mm) at her deepest part. Even fully loaded, with a hundred tons of freight, she only sat 30inches into the water.[3]:43
She left Soda Creek for her first trip upstream on May 23, leaving at the break of day and arriving in Quesnel at 11 am.[1]:152,153 Captain Browne made semi-weekly trips between Quesnel and Soda Creek until June 23 when he decided that the BX was ready for testing in the two canyons between Quesnel and Fort George, the Cottonwood Canyon and the Fort George Canyon. He left Quesnel at 1pm and upon arriving at the Cottonwood Canyon, offloaded the passengers and lined through using the steam capstan. However, Browne soon realized that the light and powerful BX did not need to line through and could run the canyons unaided. By law passengers were forced to disembark and walk around any canyon that a steamer was lining through and be picked up on the other side. However, by the fall of 1910, the federal steamboat inspector decided that the BX was allowed to keep her passengers on board.[3]:48 This gave her a huge advantage over her rivals, all of which had to line through both canyons, wasting time and fuel as well as inconveniencing the passengers.[7]:51–52
The BX arrived in South Fort George on June 24,[1]:156 to a warm welcome from the local populace. The steamer landing on the Fraser had been there since 1909 and was already used by the Charlotte, Chilco and Quesnel. Nevertheless, local residents had been anticipating the day of the BX's arrival to see where the company would choose to have its landing and where it would build its office and warehouse. Many local business decisions were going to be based on this, as it was widely and correctly assumed that the BX would be bringing up the bulk of the passengers and landseekers from the south.[1]:161 One businessman, hotelier Al Johnson, was waiting for this information so he would know where to build Fort George's first licensed hotel, the Hotel Northern.[1]:162 The promoters of South Fort George were well aware of the huge benefit it would be to have the landing at their town-site, so the day after the BX arrived they offered the BC Express Company free lots of their choice in South Fort George.[3]:49–50 The company accepted the offer and construction on the facilities was begun. This would be a huge disappointment to South Fort George's rival town-site, Central Fort George on the Nechako River, which had hoped for the BC Express's landing and offices for itself. George Hammond, the promoter for Central, made the best he could out of a bad situation and hired a representative for the Central town-site and had him travel on the BX and promote Central to the passengers before they arrived in South Fort George.[1]:163[8]
The route
Once the BX had been successfully tested in the canyons, she began a semi-weekly passenger and mail service from Soda Creek to Fort George.[1]:158 The BX would meet the company horse stages or automobiles at Soda Creek and would leave at 3am on Sundays and Wednesdays, arriving in Quesnel at noon, offload cargo and passengers and continue upriver until dark. The next day she would start again at dawn and arrive in Fort George around 11am. The return trips downriver were much faster, the BX would leave Fort George on Tuesdays and Saturdays at 7am and arrive in Soda Creek at 4pm the same day. She made good speed through the canyons, often as fast as 30mph (48km/h).[1]:159
In 1910, the stage fare from Ashcroft to Soda Creek was $27.50, steamer fare from there to Fort George was $17.50, meals were 75 cents and berths, $1.50.[1]:51 Along the route, if a settler needed the BX to stop, they simply raised a white flag along the riverbank and the steamer would pull over and land. A white flag was never ignored,[7]:52 it might only be a settler wanting to ship some produce to market, or it could be a sick child that needed emergency transportation to a hospital.[1]:51
Late in 1910, the BX fulfilled a heroic role. The Chilco had been on its way up from Quesnel to Fort George in late November with Fort George's winter food supply when it met with an accident just above the Cottonwood Canyon and the food had to be transported back to Quesnel.[7]:53 When news of this reached Fort George, pioneers Al Johnson and Russell Peden snow-shoed down to Quesnel to petition Captain Browne to make one last run with the BX with the necessary supplies. By then ice had begun to form along the river, but Captain Browne consented and brought the BX to Fort George, without as much as a scratch on her paint.[1]:166
1911 was a busy year as more settlers poured into the district, and in 1912, the BX was joined by her sister ship, the BC Express, which under the command of Captain Joseph Bucey, had been built for service on the Fort George to Tête Jaune Cache section of the upper Fraser.[7]:51 However, that year the Fraser was very low and all the sternwheelers had trouble. The BX rammed the same rock twice in the Fort George Canyon, until her crew, in case of frustrated over-exuberance, dynamited the offending boulder, thereby breaking every window in the BX in the process.[7]:52[9]
But 1912 also brought some very good news for all the local river steamers, and the area in general. It was announced that another railway was going to be built, the Pacific Great Eastern which would run from Vancouver to Fort George and eventually beyond to the Peace River Country.[7]:54Foley, Welch and Stewart would be the contractors for this railway as well and they planned to build the grade along the upper Fraser River from Fort George to Soda Creek so that sternwheelers could be used to aid in its construction.[10]
In 1914, the construction of the Grand Trunk Pacific was finished and construction on the Pacific Great Eastern began and the Foley, Welch and Stewart boats, the Operator and the Conveyor joined the BX and the BC Express on the route between Soda Creek and Fort George.[7]:53 By then, the rivalry between the FW&S boats and the BC Express boats was quite heated and it soon came down to a race.[1]:212–217 The Conveyor had proved itself to be swifter than its sister ship Operator, as had the BX proven swifter than the BC Express, so one day in July, the Conveyor's Captain Shannon challenged Captain Browne to a race to Quesnel from Soda Creek. The rules were rather odd, as the BX was still obligated to stop and deliver her mail at several different landings whereas the Conveyor had no such obligation and could run right through. As the race progressed, it soon became obvious to all that the BX was the faster boat, as she had stayed ahead for most of the race, despite having to stop several times. At one landing the BX had more mail to deliver than usual and had fallen behind the Conveyor, but she soon caught up and was passing her opponent when Captain Johnson rammed the BX with the Conveyor. Captain Browne immediately pulled over to inspect his boat for damages and the Conveyor pulled ahead again. Fortunately Browne soon discovered that the Conveyor had hit the BX just where the shear of her guards met and that there was no serious damage. In fact, when Browne arrived in Quesnel, he had almost caught up with the Conveyor again. When the full tale was heard by the local populace, it was unanimously agreed that the BX was the winner and she was declared the "Speed Queen of the Fraser". Captain Shannon, meanwhile was apologetic, and had stated that he just got caught up in the moment.[3]:86–91[7]:57,58
That would be the last race on the upper Fraser River, because that August would bring the onset of World War I and the halting of construction of the Pacific Great Eastern.[3]:92
The end of an era
BX sunk at Woodpecker 1919
In 1915, only the BX was used on the upper Fraser River, with the BC Express reserved for special trips. Despite having a monopoly on river traffic, the BX finished the season with a $7000 loss.[3]:92
In 1916 and 1917, sternwheelers were not used on the river at all. In 1918, after an appeal from the Quesnel Board of Trade, the provincial government granted the BC Express Company a $10,000 per year subsidy to continue river navigation from Soda Creek to Fort George.[3]:93 The BX ran until August 30, 1919, when she was punctured by an infamous rock called the "Woodpecker" and sank with a 100 tons of bagged cement intended for construction of the Deep Creek Bridge.[3]:94 The BC Express Company, fully intending to salvage their prized craft, hired Alexander Watson Jr to rush up from Victoria to overhaul the BC Express, which had been out of service since 1915, so she could go rescue the BX. However, out at the site of the accident, it was discovered that the bags of cement had solidified and had to be separated before the BX could be raised and the salvage could not be completed before freeze-up. In the spring of 1920, the salvage work was completed and at a cost of $40,000[7]:58 the BX was raised and patched sufficiently to get her back to Fort George. The newly overhauled BC Express pushed her back upstream through the Fort George Canyon and to the shipyard at Fort George. This would be the first time in the history of sternwheelers that one would push another upriver through a canyon.[1]:225 That it could be accomplished was a fitting testament to the craftsmanship of Alexander Watson Jr and the skill of Captain Browne and Captain Bucey.[11] The BC Express ran until November 1920 and then it joined the BX on the riverbank at Fort George, where their hulls were abandoned. In a sense, they lived on, as their engines and equipment were shipped to Northern Alberta to work on the Mackenzie River for the Alberta and Arctic Transportation Company.[1]:225
Barnard's Express, later known as the British Columbia Express Company or BX, was a pioneer transportation company that served the Cariboo and Fraser-Fort George regions in British Columbia, Canada from 1861 until 1921.
Soda Creek is a rural subdivision 38 km north of Williams Lake in British Columbia, Canada. Located on the east bank of the Fraser River, Soda Creek was originally the home of the Xat'sull First Nation. Soda Creek Indian Reserve No. 1 is located on the left (E) bank of the Fraser River, one mile south of the Soda Creek BCR (CN) station, 431.10 ha. 52°19′00″N122°16′00″W
Twelve paddlewheel steamboats plied the upper Fraser River in British Columbia from 1863 until 1921. They were used for a variety of purposes: working on railroad construction, delivering mail, promoting real estate in infant townsites and bringing settlers in to a new frontier. They served the towns of Quesnel, Barkerville and Fort George. Some only worked the Fraser from Soda Creek to Quesnel, while others went all the way to Tête Jaune Cache or took the Nechako River and served Fort Fraser and beyond.
Owen Forrester Browne was a paddle steamer captain in British Columbia, and Alberta, Canada. He was born in New Westminster and worked on the lower Fraser and Yukon River sternwheelers before coming to the upper Fraser River in the early 1900s.
The Enterprise was a passenger and freight sternwheeler that was built for service on the Soda Creek to Quesnel route on the upper Fraser River in British Columbia. It was built at Four Mile Creek near Alexandria by pioneer shipbuilder James Trahey of Victoria for Gustavus Blin-Wright and Captain Thomas Wright and was put into service in the spring of 1863. Her captain was JW Doane. The Enterprise was the first of twelve sternwheelers that would work on this section of the Fraser from 1863 to 1921. Though she wasn’t large, she was a wonderful example of the early craft of shipbuilding. All of the lumber she was built from was cut by hand and her boiler and engines had been brought to the building site at Four Mile packed by mule via the wagon road from Port Douglas, 300 miles away.
Victoria was a passenger and freight sternwheeler that was built for service on the Soda Creek to Quesnel route on the upper Fraser River in British Columbia. She was built at Quesnel by pioneer shipbuilder James Trahey of Victoria for Gustavus Blin-Wright and Captain Thomas Wright and was put into service in the spring of 1869 to augment the service of Enterprise also built by Trahey for the Wrights. Although the Victoria's hull was new, her engines and boiler had originally been in the Prince of Wales from Lillooet Lake.
The Charlotte sternwheeler was built in 1896 by Alexander Watson for the Northern British Columbia Navigation Company. The partners of the NBCNC were Stephen Tingley, Senator James Reid and John Irving. She was launched on August 3, 1896 and christened by James Reid's wife after whom she'd been named.
Quesnel was a sternwheeler first launched in May 1909 at Quesnel, British Columbia to serve the Soda Creek to Fort George route of the upper Fraser River.
The Nechacco sternwheeler was built for service on the Soda Creek to Fort George route on the upper Fraser River in British Columbia. She was owned by the Fort George Lumber and Navigation Company. The partners in this company were Nick Clark and Russel Peden of South Fort George, who operated a sawmill there. Nick Clark also owned the lots in that townsite and was offering them up for sale. The new steamer was intended to bring prospective property buyers to Fort George and to furnish them with supplies.
The Fort Fraser was a small sternwheeler owned by the Fort George Lumber and Transportation Company a partnership originally held by Nick Clarke and Russell Peden from the Fort George town-site of South Fort George. The Fort Fraser was intended to be a small prospecting craft that could service not only the Soda Creek to Fort George section of the upper Fraser River but also the Nechako River and some of its tributaries, enabling her to serve her namesake town of Fort Fraser.
The sternwheeler Chilcotin was built for the Soda Creek to Fort George route of the upper Fraser River. She was built by shipbuilder Donald McPhee for the Fort George Lumber and Navigation Company, which was a partnership held by Nick Clarke and Russell Peden of the South Fort George town-site of Fort George. Chilcotin was the largest of the company's three sternwheelers and was intended to run as competition against the BC Express Company's new luxury sternwheeler, BX. Chilcotin had main, promenade and Texas decks, hot and cold running water and stateroom accommodation for fifty.
The Robert C Hammond was the last sternwheeler built for service on the upper Fraser and Nechako Rivers. She was owned by the Fort George Lake and River Transportation Company, a partnership of George Hammond and his brother. She was launched at the Central Fort George town-site of Fort George on May 22, 1913. She was built so that George Hammond, the promoter of Central Fort George, could claim that his community had steamer service. Central Fort George was on the Nechako River and the large sternwheelers owned by the BC Express Company, despite a $50 per trip inducement, could rarely call there, as there often were sandbars unless the water was very high. The rival sternwheelers of the South Fort George town-site owned by the Fort George Lumber and Navigation Company were not interested in helping George Hammond promote Central.
The Conveyor was one of five sternwheelers built for the use on the Skeena River by Foley, Welch and Stewart for construction work on the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway. The other four were the Operator, the Skeena, the Distributor and the Omineca. Three of these, the Conveyor, the Operator and the Distributor were built at Victoria, British Columbia in 1908 by Alexander Watson Jr.
The Operator sternwheeler was one of five sternwheelers built for the use on the Skeena River by Foley, Welch and Stewart for construction work on the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway. The other four were the Conveyor, the Skeena, the Distributor and the Omineca. Three of these, the Conveyor, the Operator and the Distributor were built at Victoria, British Columbia, in 1908 by Alexander Watson Jr.
The BC Express was a stern wheel paddle steamer (sternwheeler) that operated on the Fraser River in British Columbia, Canada, from 1912 to 1919. The BC Express was built for the BC Express Company by Alexander Watson, Jr to work on the upper Fraser River between Tête Jaune Cache and Fort George during the busy years of Grand Trunk Pacific Railway construction. The BC Express Company hired Captain Joseph Bucey, an experienced Skeena River pilot, to be her master.
Frank Cyril Swannell was one of British Columbia's most famous surveyors.
Stephen Tingley was a stagecoach driver and one of the original owners of the pioneer transportation company BC Express that served the Cariboo region in British Columbia, Canada for 60 years, from 1860, when it was first founded as Barnard's Express, until 1920, when it ceased its sternwheeler service.
John Irving was a steamship captain in British Columbia, Canada. He began on the Fraser River at the age of 18 and would become one of the most famous and prosperous riverboat captains of the era. His father, William Irving, was known as the "King of the River" and the neighborhood of Irvington in Portland, Oregon is named in honor of their family.
South Fort George is a suburb of Prince George, British Columbia, Canada.
The Inlander was a sternwheeler that worked on the Skeena River in British Columbia, Canada from 1910 until 1912. She was owned by the Prince Rupert and Skeena River Navigation Company which was a syndicate of Skeena River businessmen who planned to use the Inlander as a passenger and freight steamer during the busy years of Grand Trunk Pacific Railway construction.
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