The Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad in southwestern Colorado has operated continuously since 1881, first as a mining railroad and later as a tourist line. Built by the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad, it extended through the steep Animas Canyon, where immigrant laborers blasted a shelf into granite cliffs to lay the track. Service to Silverton began in 1882 to carry silver and gold ore, but declining mining traffic later threatened the branch. After World War II, tourism revived it, and by the 1960s passenger demand helped save the line from abandonment. Since 1981, new ownership has restored and preserved this National Historic Landmark as one of the last surviving Rio Grande narrow-gauge routes.