Chimney Rock National Monument, the most northeastern known outpost of the Ancestral Puebloans.Mesa Verde National Park, a World Heritage site.There are significant archaeological sites surrounding the Durango area featured on the State and National historical registers, including: Once the D&RGW ended up losing its freight traffic in 1968, the tracks from Durango east to Chama, New Mexico, and south to Farmington, New Mexico were removed, but the Silverton Branch remained in operation until 1981 when it was sold and became the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad. In turn, the D&RGW introduced the major tourism industry into the Durango area, transporting visitors up to Silverton and back and attracting Hollywood into La Plata County for a time. However, the natural scenery along their Silverton Branch had been recognized as a major tourist attraction. The D&RGW also ended their San Juan Express passenger service from Durango to Alamosa. The Rio Grande Southern lost its contract to transport mail in 1951, and soon thereafter suspended operations. However, the Great Depression and aftermath of World War II hurt the area's railroad industry. The D&RG(W) and the Rio Grande Southern Railroad were vital resources to many places including Durango before the major introduction of the automobile, helping transport goods such as produce and mineral traffic in and out of the Southwestern Colorado area, and along with other businesses such as the Durango Smelter, immensely supporting the town's economy. Sales from the Durango Trust skyrocketed by the completion of the D&RG's Silverton Branch, by 1885 DurangoвЂ™s business district had seven hotels and restaurants, eleven saloons, dancehalls and stores, two bakeries and blacksmith shops, and a variety of other businesses, also boosting the town of SilvertonвЂ™s population to 2,000 at the time. Palmer among other D&RG associates such as William Bell started a subsidiary company known as the Durango Trust to sell land and plan a Main Street, 2nd, and 3rd Avenue, and so on to organize the town, taking inspiration from how Palmer founded the city of Colorado Springs. Hunt, a friend of D&RG President William Jackson Palmer, after Durango, Mexico, based on his favorable impression of that city resulting from a scouting trip undertaken on behalf of Palmer. The city was named by ex-Colorado Governor Alexander C.

The D&RG chose a site in the Animas Valley close to the Animas River near what's now the Downtown Durango Historic Business District for its railroad facilities following a brief and most likely perfunctory negotiation with the other establishment in the area known as Animas City, two miles to the north. The town was organized from September 1880 to April 1881 by the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad (D&RG, later known as the Denver and Rio Grande Western railroad) as part of their efforts to reach Silverton, Colorado, and service the San Juan mining district, the goal of their 'San Juan Extension' built from Alamosa Colorado. 4.1.7 Durango Ragtime & Early Jazz Festival.4.1.2 Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad.

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