Dales

History

The name is derived from the Dale family which moved onto the ranch adjacent to Dales Station in 1908. In 1913 Creath Dale purchased this property that previously belonged to the Long family, and before that, the John Norwood Gates family. The Dale home was originally known as the "Halfway House" when the Gates family owned it, being halfway between the cities of Red Bluff and Manton near Payne's Creek. John Norwood Gates and family resided in the home on or before 1867; John Gates being an early Tehama County pioneer arriving to the area in 1859 with A. A. Kauffman. The Halfway House was originally located on the north side of the Payne's Creek waterway, but was disassembled and rebuilt while the Gates' owned it, near its present location on the south side of the creek. The ranch became a routine stop for the local mail stage coach and passenger stages, with livestock and fresh horses being kept in the Dale's barn. The Dale family raised cattle on the ranch, and offered meals and lodging to cattlemen, shepherds and travelers, making it a local landmark. The ranch houses included a wooden structure built in 1922 by the Dales as a service station in response to the popularity of the Ford Model T. Then, in 1937, major flooding in the area destroyed the service station and the wooden bridge that crossed Payne's Creek on the road to Manton. The Dale's home (old Halfway House) survived the flood but floated approximately to its current location. The following year, the Dales rebuilt the Station using stones from the nearby lava beds on their property, ensuring that future floods could not have the same devastating effect. At that time the Dale family began leasing the space to others to run as a restaurant and bar, and finally sold the Station in 1962. The Station had…

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