Alton (Kane) is a livestock and ranching community
near the head of Long Valley, twenty miles northeast of
Glendale at the base of the beautiful Sunset Cliffs. These cliffs are part
of the west boundary of the Paunsaugunt Plateau. Alton's earliest name was Roundys
Station after Lorenzo Wesley Roundy and his family. Roundy built two log cabins
there but was forced to abandon his ranch site because he was having trouble with
the Indians. He drowned in 1876 while ferrying supplies
across the Colorado River.
The site was later named Graham for Graham Duncan MacDonald, a pioneer of nearby Ranch.
MacDonald was a bookkeeper for an adjacent sawmill; he also helped haul lumber for
the construction of the St. George
Mormon temple.
Alton was an outgrowth of nearby Upper Kanab and was
considered part of that settlement at one time. As time passed, various names were
discussed for Alton-to-be, but none were accepted until a drawing was
held at a community social in 1912. Among the names put into a hat for
the drawing was one suggested by Charles R. Pugh who had been reading
a book about the Alton Fjord in Norway, known for the height of its
surrounding mountains. A two-year-old child drew the name from the hat.
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