Kelton, Utah
Encyclopedia
Kelton is a ghost town
, just north of the Great Salt Lake
, in the Park Valley
area of Box Elder County
, Utah
, United States
. The town was inhabited during the period 1869–1942. Once an important section station
on the First Transcontinental Railroad
, Kelton was dependent on the railroad throughout its history. The town suffered serious setbacks in the 1880s when its busy stagecoach
route to Boise, Idaho
was discontinued, and in the 1900s when the Lucin Cutoff
left it off the main rail line. The strongest earthquake
in Utah history caused severe damage in 1934, but Kelton ceased to exist only when the rails were completely removed during World War II
.
work crew of the Central Pacific Railroad
arrived on April 12, 1869, less than a month before the driving of the golden spike
. When the post office
was established here on December 16, 1869, it was named Kelton after an early stockman. It quickly grew into a prosperous town, soon including several fine hotels, stores, homes, a whole row of saloons and gambling halls, and even a telephone exchange
.
Kelton was ideally positioned to link the railroad to the large northern markets of Oregon
, Idaho
, and Montana
. Already by the summer of 1869 a stagecoach
route was established between Kelton and Boise, Idaho
. By 1871 the Kelton Freight Road was the best road leading into southwestern Idaho. In the 1870s and early 1880s, the Wells Fargo
stage line running between Kelton and several gold mines in Idaho and Montana was robbed more often than any other stage line in the Old West
. Treasure hunters
still search for the hundreds of thousands of unrecovered dollars rumored to be cached
in the nearby City of Rocks
.
and the Utah Northern Railroad pushed into Oregon, Idaho, and Montana. By July 1884 the stage route was defunct, but Kelton still had the transcontinental railroad. Even that was taken away in 1903–1904, when the main line was relocated to the south to a route called the Lucin Cutoff
, across the Great Salt Lake itself. Kelton's former section was relegated to a mere backup line, used in case of high water, and to service local farmers and ranchers. There was so little traffic on the line that the weekly local train would often stop for a half hour of rabbit hunting.
On the morning of March 12, 1934, Kelton was hit by the most powerful earthquake
ever recorded in Utah. At a magnitude
of 6.6 and an intensity
of VIII, the Hansel Valley quake and its aftershock
s might have been devastating in a densely-populated area, but only two people were killed. Great fissures and holes opened in the earth, muddy water gushing from them. Houses and other buildings were severely shaken, and the Kelton schoolhouse was left leaning at such a precarious angle that it had to be abandoned.
As late as 1937 Kelton was still an important local shipping point, and a population of 47 remained. The final death blow came suddenly, when the Southern Pacific Railroad
completely dismantled the old railway line in a week, July 1–8, 1942, and contributed the hardware to the war effort
. The last residents of Kelton left, taking some of the houses with them. Nothing remains but some ruins, fallen buildings and abandoned foundations, and a deteriorating cemetery. The railroad grade is still clearly visible, although many of the trestle
s are falling down.
Ghost town
A ghost town is an abandoned town or city. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economic activity that supported it has failed, or due to natural or human-caused disasters such as floods, government actions, uncontrolled lawlessness, war, or nuclear disasters...
, just north of the Great Salt Lake
Great Salt Lake
The Great Salt Lake, located in the northern part of the U.S. state of Utah, is the largest salt water lake in the western hemisphere, the fourth-largest terminal lake in the world. In an average year the lake covers an area of around , but the lake's size fluctuates substantially due to its...
, in the Park Valley
Park Valley, Utah
Park Valley is an unincorporated community in Box Elder County, Utah, United States.Park Valley lies in the northwestern part of the state, northwest of the state capital at Salt Lake City, and west of the county seat at Brigham City. Utah State Route 30 runs through the center of the valley,...
area of Box Elder County
Box Elder County, Utah
Box Elder County is a county located in the U.S. state of Utah. It lies on the north end of the Great Salt Lake, covering a large area north to the Idaho border and west to the Nevada border. Included in this area are large tracts of barren desert, contrasted by high, forested mountains. The...
, Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The town was inhabited during the period 1869–1942. Once an important section station
Train station
A train station, also called a railroad station or railway station and often shortened to just station,"Station" is commonly understood to mean "train station" unless otherwise qualified. This is evident from dictionary entries e.g...
on the First Transcontinental Railroad
First Transcontinental Railroad
The First Transcontinental Railroad was a railroad line built in the United States of America between 1863 and 1869 by the Central Pacific Railroad of California and the Union Pacific Railroad that connected its statutory Eastern terminus at Council Bluffs, Iowa/Omaha, Nebraska The First...
, Kelton was dependent on the railroad throughout its history. The town suffered serious setbacks in the 1880s when its busy stagecoach
Stagecoach
A stagecoach is a type of covered wagon for passengers and goods, strongly sprung and drawn by four horses, usually four-in-hand. Widely used before the introduction of railway transport, it made regular trips between stages or stations, which were places of rest provided for stagecoach travelers...
route to Boise, Idaho
Boise, Idaho
Boise is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho, as well as the county seat of Ada County. Located on the Boise River, it anchors the Boise City-Nampa metropolitan area and is the largest city between Salt Lake City, Utah and Portland, Oregon.As of the 2010 Census Bureau,...
was discontinued, and in the 1900s when the Lucin Cutoff
Lucin Cutoff
The Lucin Cutoff is a railroad line which included a railroad trestle which crossed the Great Salt Lake in Utah. Built by the Southern Pacific Company between February 1902 and March 1904 across Promontory Point, it bypassed the original Central Pacific Railroad route through Promontory Summit...
left it off the main rail line. The strongest earthquake
Earthquake
An earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves. The seismicity, seismism or seismic activity of an area refers to the frequency, type and size of earthquakes experienced over a period of time...
in Utah history caused severe damage in 1934, but Kelton ceased to exist only when the rails were completely removed during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
History
The site was first settled under the name of Indian Creek, when the mostly-ChineseChinese people
The term Chinese people may refer to any of the following:*People with Han Chinese ethnicity ....
work crew of the Central Pacific Railroad
Central Pacific Railroad
The Central Pacific Railroad is the former name of the railroad network built between California and Utah, USA that formed part of the "First Transcontinental Railroad" in North America. It is now part of the Union Pacific Railroad. Many 19th century national proposals to build a transcontinental...
arrived on April 12, 1869, less than a month before the driving of the golden spike
Golden spike
The "Golden Spike" is the ceremonial final spike driven by Leland Stanford to join the rails of the First Transcontinental Railroad across the United States connecting the Central Pacific and Union Pacific railroads on May 10, 1869, at Promontory Summit, Utah Territory...
. When the post office
Post office
A post office is a facility forming part of a postal system for the posting, receipt, sorting, handling, transmission or delivery of mail.Post offices offer mail-related services such as post office boxes, postage and packaging supplies...
was established here on December 16, 1869, it was named Kelton after an early stockman. It quickly grew into a prosperous town, soon including several fine hotels, stores, homes, a whole row of saloons and gambling halls, and even a telephone exchange
Telephone exchange
In the field of telecommunications, a telephone exchange or telephone switch is a system of electronic components that connects telephone calls...
.
Kelton was ideally positioned to link the railroad to the large northern markets of Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
, Idaho
Idaho
Idaho is a state in the Rocky Mountain area of the United States. The state's largest city and capital is Boise. Residents are called "Idahoans". Idaho was admitted to the Union on July 3, 1890, as the 43rd state....
, and Montana
Montana
Montana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...
. Already by the summer of 1869 a stagecoach
Stagecoach
A stagecoach is a type of covered wagon for passengers and goods, strongly sprung and drawn by four horses, usually four-in-hand. Widely used before the introduction of railway transport, it made regular trips between stages or stations, which were places of rest provided for stagecoach travelers...
route was established between Kelton and Boise, Idaho
Boise, Idaho
Boise is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho, as well as the county seat of Ada County. Located on the Boise River, it anchors the Boise City-Nampa metropolitan area and is the largest city between Salt Lake City, Utah and Portland, Oregon.As of the 2010 Census Bureau,...
. By 1871 the Kelton Freight Road was the best road leading into southwestern Idaho. In the 1870s and early 1880s, the Wells Fargo
History of Wells Fargo
This article outlines the history of Wells Fargo & Company from its origins to its merger with Norwest and beyond. The new company chose to retain the name of "Wells Fargo" and so this article also includes the history after the merger.-Origins:...
stage line running between Kelton and several gold mines in Idaho and Montana was robbed more often than any other stage line in the Old West
American Old West
The American Old West, or the Wild West, comprises the history, geography, people, lore, and cultural expression of life in the Western United States, most often referring to the latter half of the 19th century, between the American Civil War and the end of the century...
. Treasure hunters
Treasure hunting
Treasure hunting is the physical search for treasure which has been a notable human activity for millennia. -In modern times:In recent times, the early stages of the development of archaeology included a significant aspect of treasure hunt; Heinrich Schliemann's excavations at Troy, and later at...
still search for the hundreds of thousands of unrecovered dollars rumored to be cached
Treasure trove
A treasure trove may broadly be defined as an amount of money or coin, gold, silver, plate, or bullion found hidden underground or in places such as cellars or attics, where the treasure seems old enough for it to be presumed that the true owner is dead and the heirs undiscoverable...
in the nearby City of Rocks
City of Rocks
The City of Rocks National Reserve, also known as the Silent City of Rocks, is a United States National Reserve and state park lying north of the south central Idaho border with Utah...
.
Decline
The importance of the freight road waned as the Oregon Short Line RailroadOregon Short Line Railroad
The Oregon Short Line Railroad was a railroad in the U.S. states of Wyoming, Idaho, Utah, Montana and Oregon. The line was as organized the Oregon Short Line Railway in 1881 as a subsidiary of Union Pacific Railway. Union Pacific intended the line to be the shortest route from Wyoming to Oregon...
and the Utah Northern Railroad pushed into Oregon, Idaho, and Montana. By July 1884 the stage route was defunct, but Kelton still had the transcontinental railroad. Even that was taken away in 1903–1904, when the main line was relocated to the south to a route called the Lucin Cutoff
Lucin Cutoff
The Lucin Cutoff is a railroad line which included a railroad trestle which crossed the Great Salt Lake in Utah. Built by the Southern Pacific Company between February 1902 and March 1904 across Promontory Point, it bypassed the original Central Pacific Railroad route through Promontory Summit...
, across the Great Salt Lake itself. Kelton's former section was relegated to a mere backup line, used in case of high water, and to service local farmers and ranchers. There was so little traffic on the line that the weekly local train would often stop for a half hour of rabbit hunting.
On the morning of March 12, 1934, Kelton was hit by the most powerful earthquake
Earthquake
An earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves. The seismicity, seismism or seismic activity of an area refers to the frequency, type and size of earthquakes experienced over a period of time...
ever recorded in Utah. At a magnitude
Richter magnitude scale
The expression Richter magnitude scale refers to a number of ways to assign a single number to quantify the energy contained in an earthquake....
of 6.6 and an intensity
Mercalli intensity scale
The Mercalli intensity scale is a seismic scale used for measuring the intensity of an earthquake. It measures the effects of an earthquake, and is distinct from the moment magnitude M_w usually reported for an earthquake , which is a measure of the energy released...
of VIII, the Hansel Valley quake and its aftershock
Aftershock
An aftershock is a smaller earthquake that occurs after a previous large earthquake, in the same area of the main shock. If an aftershock is larger than the main shock, the aftershock is redesignated as the main shock and the original main shock is redesignated as a foreshock...
s might have been devastating in a densely-populated area, but only two people were killed. Great fissures and holes opened in the earth, muddy water gushing from them. Houses and other buildings were severely shaken, and the Kelton schoolhouse was left leaning at such a precarious angle that it had to be abandoned.
Southern Pacific Railroad
The Southern Pacific Transportation Company , earlier Southern Pacific Railroad and Southern Pacific Company, and usually simply called the Southern Pacific or Espee, was an American railroad....
completely dismantled the old railway line in a week, July 1–8, 1942, and contributed the hardware to the war effort
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. The last residents of Kelton left, taking some of the houses with them. Nothing remains but some ruins, fallen buildings and abandoned foundations, and a deteriorating cemetery. The railroad grade is still clearly visible, although many of the trestle
Trestle
A trestle is a rigid frame used as a support, especially referring to a bridge composed of a number of short spans supported by such frames. In the context of trestle bridges, each supporting frame is generally referred to as a bent...
s are falling down.
External links
- Kelton photos by Randy W. Lewis
- Kelton Cemetery at Utah State History