Halfway, OR

Halfway is a city in Baker County, Oregon, along Oregon Route 86 in Pine Valley, about 54 miles east of Baker City and close to the Idaho border. The name comes from its position between Pine and Cornucopia; a post office opened in 1887, the town moved to its present platted site in 1907, and incorporation followed in 1909. Ranching and mining have long shared the valley. Cornucopia, eleven miles up in the Wallowa Mountains, was a major gold-mining town, while Halfway gathered the schools, stores, public offices, and services of the valley.

The Pine Valley Community Museum makes that history tangible on East Record Street. Its grounds include the first log schoolhouse in Pine Valley, the city's original jail, and a historic smokehouse, while exhibits cover mining, timber, ranching, and ordinary household life. The city sits near the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest and Hells Canyon. Its local map combines that recreation gateway with the city office, museum, weekly Hells Canyon Journal, and Pine Eagle school system serving a ranching valley that stretches toward the mountains and Snake River country.