Fonds MS 147;1992.007 - BX Ranch Ltd. fonds

In 1860, Francis Barnard began ranching five miles east of present-day Vernon. The name BX was applied to the ranch after Barnard had established the B.C. Express and Stage Line, more commonly known as Barnard's Express. Barnard had come to Yale, B.C. from Quebec in search of gold. Like others, he found a more reliable income in providing services to the mining towns. He obtained a mail delivery contract to the Interior, first on foot, then by pony, and finally by a full-scale freight and passenger service. In 1868, he sent his foreman and senior driver Steve Tingley, to New Mexico where he purchased 400 horses and drove them back to the BX Ranch. These horses became the breeding stock from which Barnard drew the horses needed on the stagecoaches and freight wagons. The run from Cache Creek to Priest's Valley and Okanagan Mission operated until the the completion of the Okanagan branch of the CPR in 1892. The Cariboo run survived until 1917 and the opening of the PGE railway. After Barnard's death in 1889, the estate retained the ranch until 1900 when it was sold the Alexander Macdonell. In 1911, a morning fire destroyed the ranch house and barn. Mrs. Macdonell lost her life in the fire. Macdonell sold the largest part of the ranch, retaining only 320 acres. The youngest son, Roddy, inherited the ranch when his father died in 1925. In six years, the bank took over the ranch and sold it to John de Roo. De Roo owned the BX for 16 years. In 1947, it was sold to Arthur Dodd, who lived in England, leaving the running of the ranch to many foremen and managers. In 1958, the ranch was sold once more to absentee owners, Drs. Heinz and Wolfgang Huver. Presently, the ranch is controlled by a three-man directorship of local businessmen who rent the ranch out.