Opening a Road & Toll
In 1860 workers began work in earnest to open a road through Silver Creek Canyon. A toll gate was installed about 5 miles up the canyon from the town of Wanship, giving rise to the name Toll Gate Canyon. The toll was $1. At the western end of the Silver Creek Canyon, Atkinson Station serviced wagon freighters. In the 1910s a school was built near the Big 4 Mill and can still be seen along the Historic Rail Trail south of Interstate 80.