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The stagecoach reached Oregon in
1860. That year the federal government
licensed the California Stage Company to begin
carrying the U.S. mail on the seven-day trip between Portland and Sacramento.
The Mountain House was located at the foot of the
mountains, directly along the California/Oregon Trail that formed the stagecoach
route. Not surprisingly, the inn became a “home stop” on the stagecoach line,
a waystation where passengers
and drivers were fed and teams of horses were switched and stabled.
By 1860, one of the three original Mountain House boys had died and another had moved on. The remaining
partner, Hugh Barron, had married. His wife, Martha, operated the stagecoach stop for the next 25 years,
making it famous for its cooking. Hugh Barron raised sheep and cattle, started a butcher shop in town,
planted orchards, and ran a ranch of 4,000 acres. In 1879, the tax records identified him
as the richest man in Jackson County.
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