A stopping house was a kind of

rural In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry typically are descri ...

lodging Lodging refers to the use of a short-term dwelling, usually by renting the living space or sometimes through some other arrangement. People who travel and stay away from home for more than a day need lodging for sleep, rest, food, safety, shelt ...

used in the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though ...

during the late 19th and early 20th centuries by

fur traders The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of a world fur market in the early modern period, furs of boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals have been the mo ...

and

pioneers Pioneer commonly refers to a settler who migrates to previously uninhabited or sparsely inhabited land. In the United States pioneer commonly refers to an American pioneer, a person in American history who migrated west to join in settling and dev ...

. Stopping houses were private residences that also offered room and board and were located on early pioneer trails. They were similar to the

coaching inn The coaching inn (also coaching house or staging inn) was a vital part of Europe's inland transport infrastructure until the development of the railway, providing a resting point ( layover) for people and horses. The inn served the needs of tra ...

s of Britain and Ireland except that they were not located on well-traveled routes, but on frontier tracks. Eventually, however, scheduled

stagecoach A stagecoach is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by four horses although some versions are draw ...

services were started in the West. Stopping houses often became the nucleus of newly formed communities. They generally disappeared after the railway or highway reached an area, and were replaced with

railway hotels Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a prep ...

and motor hotels in the 20th century. Some examples of stopping houses include Froggie's Stopping Place on the Whoop-Up Trail, a National Historic Site in

Montana Montana () is a U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West List of regions of the United States#Census Bureau-designated regions and divisions, division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North ...

, and

Robert Telford Robert Taylor Telford (July 19, 1860 – November 26, 1933) was a Canadian pioneer, businessman, and politician who served in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 1905 until 1913. Born in Quebec, he moved to western Canada for adventure, a ...

's House, on the

Calgary-Edmonton Trail The Calgary and Edmonton Trail was a land transport route between Fort Edmonton and Fort Calgary in the Northwest Territories. Prior to European contact, there was already a route through the area that local Indigenous peoples used to travel fr ...

, near present-day

Leduc, Alberta Leduc ( ) is a city in the province of Alberta, Canada. It is south of the provincial capital of Edmonton and is part of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region. History Leduc was established in 1891, when Robert Telford, a settler, who had bough ...

References

{{Hotel Hotel types History of Western Canada History of the Pacific Northwest