Halfway House

Halfway House, also called Silvey's Hotel, stood ninety feet southwest of this site as a Pony Express station with a telegraph and other businesses. The first Pony Express trip there occurred on April 23, 1860, when rider Sam Hamilton left Sportsman's Hall about 12 miles east of Placerville at 8:50 p.m. on April 22, 1860, arrived in Sacramento at 1:00 a.m. after covering 55.3 miles at an average of 13.3 miles per hour, then was told to continue on to Benicia with the mail. He left Sacramento at 1:10 a.m. on a fresh horse, crossed the bridge over the Sacramento River, arrived at Halfway House around 3:15 a.m., and departed within five minutes on another fresh horse for Gillespie's Store in Vacaville.

California · United States