The barn was built in Death Canyon on the Death Canyon Trail at its junction with the Alaska Basin Trail by the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1935 in the National Park Service rustic style.

Located with a clear view of Prospector Mountain, it shares a common style and purpose with the Cascade Canyon Barn to the north in the park, with minor differences attributable to available materials and the preferences of the work crews building the barns.

A proposed cabin to house trail maintenance tools and personnel was never completed, so the barn was converted to that purpose shortly after the CCC was dissolved.

The foundation is buttressed at the corners to support the projecting log ends, a feature typical of Park Service designs of the era.

[3] The Death Canyon Barn was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on August 25, 1998.