Animas Forks is significant as a representative and relatively well-preserved ghost town for its association with commerce, industry, exploration and settlement, social history and architecture.  It was active during the peak of hard-rock silver and gold mining in the San Juan mountains.  When established in 1875, the community was strategically situated at the confluence of the East and West Forks of the Animas River, in the center of a region being extensively prospected and developed for hard-rock silver and gold mining.  After the initial boom of the early and middle 1880

Constructed in 1876-77, the Animas Cañón Toll Road was the main route between Animas City (north of Durango) and Silverton during the development of the mining camps in the surrounding region. Prior to the toll road’s construction, isolation was an impediment to the settlement of Silverton and the development of its mines, with trails and roads impassable for nearly six months of the year. Sufficient supplies and equipment were brought in with great difficulty and only the highest grade ore was transported out.

Constructed in 1876-77, the Animas Cañón Toll Road was the main route between Animas City (north of Durango) and Silverton during the development of the mining camps in the surrounding region. Prior to the toll road’s construction, isolation was an impediment to the settlement of Silverton and the development of its mines, with trails and roads impassable for nearly six months of the year. Sufficient supplies and equipment were brought in with great difficulty and only the highest grade ore was transported out.

The circa 1905 Placer Gulch Boarding House is a rare surviving example of a 1½ story boarding house from the hard-rock mining era in Colorado’s San Juan Mountains.  The building originally had private living quarters, a kitchen, dining room and large storage room on the first floor with benches and individual beds on the second.  An adit to the Prospect Mine is just down the slope from the boarding house and the Gold Prince aerial tramway passes through this site. 

The boarding house and the adjacent tramhouse reflect important engineering aspects of high altitude hard rock mining.  Constructed in 1904, two-thousand feet up a mountain face, these buildings illustrate the resourcefulness, perseverance and technology needed to mine the rugged San Juans. 

The camp was occupied during the summer months from the 1930s until 1966 by the Raber family of Kannah Creek as part of their cattle ranching operation.  One of the log cabins on the site was built in 1931 or 1932; the other dates from 1933 or 1934.

The property represents the expansion of the U.S. Forest Service’s mission from basic custodianship to extensive resource management and the recreational development of its lands.

Located along the Dry Fork drainage of Grand Mesa, adjacent Land’s End Road, the site has the potential to yield important information about aboriginal lifeways within a transitional environmental zone during the Archaic Period.

Constructed in 1890, the two-story wood frame residence is a simple local expression of the Stick style, featuring unusual decorative gable trim and brackets highlighted with cut-out crescents and stars.  Home to early settler William Coffman and his family, the house was located off Coffman Road at the western edge of Whitewater, a small town along the Gunnison River.

The 1910 Cayton Guard Station is associated with federal management and conservation of natural resources during the early 20th century development of the National Forest system.  The building represents the expansion of the federal government’s control and administration of public lands in the West.