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SAN JUAN COUNTY |
HowardsvilleOLD HUNDRED MINE BOARDING HOUSE AND TRAMHOUSE 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. Miners in the San Juans were noted for the engineering innovation of aerial tramways built above timberline to access the more valuable ore deposits. SilvertonCASCADE LODGE Constructed in 1928 under a special use permit within the San Juan National Forest, this two-story Rustic style log building with its unusual cross-shaped plan represents early 20th century Forest Service land use policies no longer in effect. It was originally built through community efforts as a summer camp for boy scouts, church groups, 4-H Club members, and other youth groups from the Durango and San Juan Basin. DURANGO-SILVERTON NARROW GAUGE RAILROAD The narrow gauge rail line, constructed between 1880 and 1882, connected the rich silver mines of the Silverton mining district with the smelters in Durango. The line formed an important transportation link for moving ores to processing centers and supplying the high mountain community with the necessities and comforts of life. From an engineering perspective, the route represents the accomplishments of late 19th century railroad builders who constructed a slender rocky ledge for the railbed through the deep and narrow Animas River canyon. The railroad continues to operate as a summer tourist attraction. Listed under Railroads in Colorado, 1858-1948 Multiple Property Submission. FRISCO-BAGLEY MILL 
Constructed in 1912, the Frisco Mill is important for its distinctive
architecture. The 150-ton ore concentration mill with its massive post and
beam construction is an unusual example of a prefabricated industrial building.
Its pieces were pre-cut, pre-fit, and coded with numbers and letters before being
shipped to the site for assembly. This speeded and simplified the construction
process on site. The Bagley Tunnel, excavated between 1904 and 1911, runs for
nearly one and one-half miles and was one of the first examples of cross-cut
tunneling in the area. Such a tunnel allowed several different veins to be
mined simultaneously or individually to meet the needs of the mill. The tunnel
is notable for its size, symmetry and straight northwesterly course through Houghton
Mountain. The mill and tunnel were associated with hard rock mining in the upper
Animas River drainage system of the San Juan Mining District. Although the project
accessed the mineral veins near the town of Mineral Point, the community of Animas
Forks ultimately benefited from the construction and operation of the tunnel and
mill building. MARTIN MINING COMPLEX 
The Martin Mining Complex is associated with the mining industry in the San Juan Mountains and the Eureka Mining District. The complex displays the development of industrialized hard rock mining and the transportation infrastructure needed to make such mining profitable in a rugged region. The Martin Mining Complex is representative of the boom and bust cycle that was always present with industrialized mining. The 1929 Martin Boardinghouse is one of the best-preserved and largest boardinghouses still standing in the San Juan Mountains. More precisely, the Martin Boardinghouse can be called a “miners’ hotel” and is one of the largest and best preserved examples of its type. Boardinghouses typically contained one large room where supplies and materials jostled with double wood bunks three tiers high. Sometimes twenty or more men lived in this single large room. Miners’ hotels represented a step up in accommodations. The type generally contained individual bedrooms with two men to a room. Each man slept on his own bunk or bed. Indoor bathrooms offered hot water for showers. Other amenities might include a library stocked with books, magazines, and newspapers, hotel china in the dining room, and a better quality of food. The property is associated with the Mining Industry in Colorado Multiple Property Submission. SHENANDOAH-DIVES MILL The Shenandoah-Dives Mill, which was constructed in 1929, is an exceptionally intact example of a selective flotation mill reflecting the distinctive characteristics of hard-rock milling processes in the early 20th century Rocky Mountain West. It is also the only intact and functional late 1920s-era, wooden gravitational selective flotation mill in Colorado. SILVERTON HISTORIC DISTRICT The town is situated at the center of the San Juan mining district. Prospecting began in the 1860s, but it was not until 1871 that the first profitable silver vein was discovered in nearby Arrastra Gulch. The late 19th and early 20th century residential and institutional buildings within the district reflect the prosperity brought about by one of Colorado’s richest mineral producing regions. The boundaries of the district were expanded to include the Shenandoah-Dives (Mayflower) Mill complex, an intact example of a selective flotation mill and its aerial tram; the office/assay building of Crooke’s Polar Star Mill that reflects Silverton’s early mining history; the Animas Power and Water Company that diverted electrical power to the mining and milling operations in the Silverton area; and the Hillside Cemetery that illustrates the impact of the mining industry on the town’s working class community. The property is associated with the Mining Industry in Colorado Multiple Property Submission. |