BX (sternwheeler)

BX in Fort George Canyon 1911
History
Canada
Name:	BX
Builder:	Alexander Watson Jr
Laid down:	1910 in Soda Creek, British Columbia
Launched:	Friday May 13, 1910 at Soda Creek
In service:	1910-1919
Fate:	sank at Woodpecker 1919, salvaged and retired in 1920
Notes:	Captain Owen Forrester Browne
General characteristics
Length:	127.5 feet (38.9 m)
Beam:	28.8 feet (8.8 m)
Draft:	16 inches empty 30 inches (760 mm) loaded
Notes:	No.126516

The BX sternwheeler was the first of two river steamers built for service on the upper Fraser River by the BC Express Company during the busy era of Grand Trunk Pacific Railway construction. The BX was built at Soda Creek in early 1910 by Alexander Watson Jr, of Victoria, who was one of British Columbia's foremost shipbuilders and the son of the man who had built the Charlotte. The BC Express Company also hired Captain Owen Forrester Browne to be the master of the BX as he was the most experienced upper Fraser River pilot.

Captain Browne worked with Alexander Watson throughout the design and construction phases of the BX. Watson purchased the BX's boiler, engines and other equipment from the Chicago Marine Ironworks Company, who were informed that the BX's construction site at Soda Creek was 167 miles (269 km) 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 10,000 lb (4,500 kg), so it was easily transported to the construction site. 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.It was later estimated that these engines saved the BX a sum equal to the amount of her construction, $54,531.33.

For the hull, Watson turned to local man, William Lyne, who was a portable sawmill operator.Lyne 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.