Alton is a town in northwest Kane County,

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

, United States. The population was 119 at the 2010 census, a decrease from the 2000 figure of 134.

History

Alton was first settled by Lorenzo Wesley Roundy in 1865 and was originally called "Roundys Station". Roundy's family was forced to leave due to conflicts with the local indigenous tribes. The community was later called "Graham", after Graham Duncan McDonald, a local pioneer. Over the years, many names have been discussed, but a consensus could not be reached. In 1912, a drawing was held at a community event to determine the community's name. Charles R. Pugh, who had been reading about the Alton Fjord in Norway, suggested the name, and it was pulled from the hat by a two-year-old child. Dustin Cox currently serves as Alton's Mayor and has been in the position for some time. He will likely run unopposed in the town's next election.

Demographics

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2010, there were 119 people in 39 households in the town. The racial makeup of the town was 89%

white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 5% Hispanic or Latino, and 2.5% Native American. The population was 45 percent male and 55 percent female. The population was 38.7 percent under 18 and 20 percent 65 or over.

Geography

Alton is in northwestern Kane County, in a sloping valley known as the "Alton Amphitheater", east of

U.S. Route 89 U.S. Route 89 (US 89) is a north–south United States Numbered Highway with two sections, and one former section. The southern section runs for from Flagstaff, Arizona, to the southern entrance of Yellowstone National Park. The northern sectio ...

along Utah State Route 136.

Kanab Creek Kanab Creek ( ) is one of the many tributaries of the Colorado River. It begins in Kane County, Utah, just south of the drainage divide, watershed to the Great Basin and flows south to the Colorado River. The stream headwaters arise at at an el ...

flows past the east side of the community.''Alton, UT,'' 7.5 Minute Topographic Quadrangle, USGS, 1966 (1980 rev.) According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the town has a total area of , of which , or 1.74%, are water.

Climate

Alton has a warm-summer

continental climate Continental climates often have a significant annual variation in temperature (warm to hot summers and cold winters). They tend to occur in central and eastern parts of the three northern-tier continents (North America, Europe, and Asia), typi ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

''Dsb'').

References

External links