Born in Point de Bute near Sackville, New Brunswick, Stephen Tingley came to British Columbia in 1861 and tried his luck at mining during the Cariboo Gold Rush before returning to Yale in 1864 and starting a harness shop, having apprenticed as a saddler in New Brunswick.
Foreign twenty years Stephen Tingley was known as the "Whip of the Cariboo" and drove the British Columbia Express stagecoaches between Yale and Cache Creek, over what was then one of the most hazardous roads in North America. In 1864, he hired on as a driver for Francis Jones Barnard. In 1868, he travelled to California and Mexico where he obtained 500 unbroken horses for Barnard.
His notebooks provide details on the harrowing drive northward to Vernon.
The British Columbia Express Company was incorporated in 1871 with original owner, Francis Jones Barnard, holding one half interest, and Stephen Tingley and James Hamilton each holding one quarter interest. In 1886, Hamilton died and Barnard sold out to Tingley who thus became sole owner.
Tingley ran the company for ten years before selling out to Charles Vance Millar. In 1894 Tingley bought the Hat Creek Ranch where he built the BX Barn and a large stables for the draft horses that were used to pull the stagecoaches along the Cariboo Road.
In 1896, Tingley partnered with Captain John Irving of Victoria and Senator James Reid of Quesnel and formed the North British Columbia Navigation Company.
The Charlotte ran from Soda Creek to Quesnel and was the only sternwheeler on the upper Fraser until 1909.
