The inn in the Roffla Gorge has been around for many generations. The road that passes this inn was the only route in this area that led across the Alps to Italy. In the old days, it served as a rest stop and lodging for people and animals. The families had a good, albeit modest, income.

When the Gotthard Railway opened at the end of the 19th century, a large part of the traffic shifted. The Christian Pitschen family – Melchior soon had only a minimal income, so they decided to emigrate to America. At that time, the municipalities paid for emigrants to travel overseas, so the young family left their homeland. Her parents continued to host the few guests and run the small farm.

Once they arrived in New York, they looked for work. The family continued to grow, but even with the children, they did not feel at home in New York. Christian Pitschen-Melchior also worked for a time as a servant for a wealthy Englishman. He traveled with him throughout America, visiting Niagara Falls, among other places. He saw that the waterfall was a tourist attraction for many people and that it could be used to earn money.
After this trip, he often thought about the waterfall, because he knew that there was also a waterfall at home in Switzerland, but it could only be heard because there was no path leading into the gorge. When his parents wrote in a letter that they could no longer run the inn due to their age, the emigrants decided to return home. Since they had to earn the money for the return journey, it took another year before they arrived in Roffla.

Once they arrived home, they tidied up the house and then began the enormous task of clearing a path through the gorge.
They worked in the gorge during the winters of 1907 to 1914, detonating around 8,000 explosive charges, but above all it took a great deal of perseverance and strength to blast holes in the hard rock.

Over the next few years, more and more people came to the inn and visited the impressive gorge.
The family looked forward to better times again. Between 1950 and 1970, business at the inn was very good.
Then the new road was built, which no longer passed by the house, presenting the family with new problems.