The Halfway House

Eight miles south of Pilot Rock on the Yellow Jacket Road, a stately two story home sits to the right of the road above Bridge Creek. Known for many years as the “Halfway House,” the home is half way between Pendleton and Camas Prairie in the Ukiah/Albee country. Owned for 101 years by the Wright/Smith family, the home was a welcome overnight stop for travelers commuting by stagecoach or horseback. Ranchers bringing cattle out of the John Day country to the railhead in Pendleton and later in 1907, the railhead in Pilot Rock would stop at the Halfway House to rest their stock and spend the night...On Thanksgiving Day in 1902, Eddie, Emma and small daughter Manilla moved to their new home on the Yellow Jacket Road. Here they welcomed travelers and provided a clean bed, sumptuous meals and pens with feed for the traveler’s livestock. Eddie had purchased 200 acres with a new house from Arthur Hascall for $2,900. The acreage included the usual outbuildings — calving barn, chicken house, pig pens, woodshed and sheep shed, but the most interesting outbuilding was the horse barn. Constructed of hand hewn timbers and wooden pegs, there wasn’t a nail in the building. It is believed the barn could have been constructed as early as the 1860’s and later moved to this location. The placement of beams and hand hewn marks of the adze indicated the building may have had a different configuration or the timbers had been refitted. Eddie and Emma Wright welcomed overnight guests charging 25 cents for a meal and $1.00 for a man’s bed. There were six bedrooms upstairs and piped cold water indoors, but all other plumbing was located outside and washing was done by hand. A Royal Oak wood cook stove occupied the north wall in the kitchen and the dining room could seat from sixteen to twenty guests. Breakfast consisted of fried meat, potatoes, biscuits and gravy as well as cereal. In the horse and buggy day, the stage traveled to Lehman Springs and Hidaway Springs from Pendleton with a scheduled stopover at Halfway House. A helping of hay for a team of horses cost 50 cents...more