A one-story log cabin built about 1877 in a ravine at in elevation served as hotel. In 1880, Mayo G. Smith bought the Seven Lakes Park property and ran the hotel from 1882 to 1883. It was visited in 1887 by the Boyden Expedition of Harvard College who took atmospheric measurements of Seven Lakes and Pikes Peak. The hotel was expanded to several stories and fitted with a billiard room and bowling alley, and burned down in the 1880s. Visitors came to the area to camp and fish. The Pike's Peak and Seven Lakes Toll Road Company was established by 1890.