Independence’s business district saw an initial boom in the early 1880s and a brief mining and business resurgence in 1898, when the Hunter Pass Mining Company leased two veins still offering significant gold ore and workers reoccupied buildings as homes and supporting commercial establishments. Although payrock was found, it was soon exhausted, and operations ended in 1899. After the harshest winter on record and avalanches covered the road, residents abandoned the town, joking about their en masse escape by declaring a race into Aspen with an entry fee of one ham sandwich. Little activity occurred afterward. A 2010 archaeological survey identified this building as a commercial site used for service or retail operations, with a deep cellar indicating significant food storage; artifacts show use from 1880 to 1886 and again from 1898 to 1900, and suggest a female occupant. Heavy snows, long winters, spring runoff, and high-altitude sun exposure have been hard on the buildings and trails, and preservation work continues each summer to address drainage and stabilization for future generations.