 |
In 1887 the last stretch of railroad
track was laid across the Siskiyou Pass on the California/Oregon border.
This was the final link in the railroad line, which now ran continuously along the whole West Coast.
A Golden Spike was driven into place in Ashland, to symbolize the significance of this event. With the route
of the iron horse complete, the stagecoach era ended.
That same year, 1887, Hugh and Martha Barron converted the Mountain House from an inn into a residence.
Along with two grown sons, they came there to live, expanding the building into the simple but
sizable farmhouse that remains today.
Hugh Barron was still hard at work when he died in 1904,
thrown from a wagon at the age of 77. His descendants carried on the family’s
ranching tradition for two more generations, culminating in Austie Barron,
a no-nonsense, cigar-smoking woman who held her own for years in the male world of ranching.
After over 100 years of ownership by the Barron
family, the Mountain House changed hands. In 1960 the property was sold
to newcomers from California. Some years later the house was sold again, minus most of the land,
to Monte and Shirley Hall, who lived there for 30 years, pursuing their passion for rebuilding and
racing antique cars.
|
