The Emigrant House

Mary Augusta Dix Gray and William H. Gray

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In 1841, William Gray completed work on the Emigrant House, sometimes called the Mansion House. The adobe building was one-and-a-half stories and lodged Gray, his family, and travelers stopping at the mission. The fact that a building was made to house people travelling through hints at the growing numbers of people travelling into Cayuse homeland.

Gray would not live in this home for long, though. He was continually unhappy with being a laborer for the mission and instead wanted a mission station of his own. Year after year, at the annual mission meetings, Gray requested his own station and year after year he was denied. By 1842, Gray was fed up and left the mission altogether.

After Gray left, the Emigrant House continued to house visitors and travelers. In late 1847, there were about 30 people staying in the Emigrant House.