In the spring of 1878, a mail route was established from Sparta, Oregon. The first mail was carried by horseback, serving post offices at Brownlee, on the Idaho side of the Snake River, and Pine and Eagle Valleys in Oregon

In Pine Valley, A. P. Greener was the first postmaster and the office was located in his home. For two or three years one trip was made with a carrier on each side of the river.
Greener gave the position to Coc Leep and the post office was moved to the Leep farm. Then Joseph Bragg, formerly of Brownlee, became Pine's postmaster and moved to the lower end of the valley.

As the gold supply at Sparta dwindled, more people moved to Pine Valley. A store and hotel were built above Pine. Gold was discovered in 1883, so Bragg moved his post office to Pine.

Gold was then discovered in 1884 at Cornucopia and in 1885 a post office was opened there as well. This meant that both ends of the valley had post offices, but the people in between were still dissatisfied.

Alex Stalker, who lived about halfway between Pine and Cornucopia, put in a store at his farm and residents petitioned for a new post office to be located there and to name it Midway. Postal officials informed them that the name Midway had already been applied elsewhere. They offered the name Halfway instead.

At the time, Halfway was in Union County, which had split from the original Baker County in 1864. The panhandle was returned to Baker County early in 1901.

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