Riding High in the San Juans: Archaeological Testing and Remediation Efforts at Animas Forks along the Alpine Loop

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Community Centered Archaeology in Colorful Colorado", at the 2025 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Animas Forks flourished between 1877 and 1913 as a Victorian-era mining town in the San Juan Mountains of southwestern Colorado. In recent years, it has become a popular tourist destination along the Alpine Loop off-road vehicle route. Because abandoned mine remains in the area could represent a threat to recreationalists at the site, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is in the process of remediating abandoned mining lands within the region. Alpine Archaeological Consultants, Inc. conducted testing at the townsite in support of this remediation effort. The testing employed a digital elevation model, a hillshade model, and the georeferenced town plat to assist in identifying additional building foundations and correlating recovered artifacts to individual businesses or residences. The efforts to remediate the Animas Forks Townsite represent an act of site stewardship by the community and enhance the safety of all who visit the highly popular site.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Community Centered Archaeology in Colorful Colorado   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2025

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow