Upper Kanab was a 19th-century Mormon pioneer settlement in Kane County, Utah, in the high mountain valley near the headwaters of Kanab Creek (also associated with the East Fork of the Virgin River drainage). It lay roughly three miles northeast of the present-day town of Alton, at an elevation of about 7,000–7,200 feet. The site is now considered a ghost town; the original community faded as residents shifted to the nearby planned town of Alton in the early 20th century.
Early Settlement and Abandonment (1865–1866)
In the spring of 1865, Lorenzo Wesley Roundy (a Utah pioneer of 1847) and other families from the north, including Jerad C. Roundy, Myron S. Roundy, William Ford, members of the Smith and Partridge families, and others, settled in the upper Kanab Creek valley. They built log cabins (Roundy constructed two) just west of what later became the site of a Kane County dairy. The area offered tall grass for hay, clear streams, timber, wildlife, and wild fruit, though the high altitude brought colder conditions than the lower “Dixie” settlements of southwestern Utah.
The stay was brief. In spring 1866, amid broader Indian hostilities (related to the Black Hawk War period and Navajo/Paiute conflicts that also forced the temporary abandonment of Kanab and Long Valley settlements), Apostle Erastus Snow called the Upper Kanab settlers to move to Berryville and Winsor (present-day Glendale and Mount Carmel) to strengthen those communities. Lorenzo Roundy did not return; he later settled in Kanarraville and served as bishop there until his death by drowning in the Colorado River in 1876 while ferrying supplies.
Resettlement and Development (1872 onward)
Upper Kanab remained abandoned until May 1872, when Lorenzo’s nephew Byron (Bye) Donalvin Roundy, his wife Matilda Ann (Lorenzo’s daughter), and their baby moved into one of the earlier cabins. They spent the first winter largely alone. Byron’s brother William Heber Roundy and others later joined, establishing permanent homes and 160-acre homesteads. The brothers were involved in cattle operations.
A sawmill operated in the area (with Graham Duncan Macdonald serving as bookkeeper). Macdonald acquired land nearby, married Annie Gardner of St. George in 1875, and became a pioneer of the nearby Ranch settlement (several miles southwest of present Alton). Mail for Upper Kanab and Sink Valley was addressed to Ranch, Utah, and held at Macdonald’s. The Canaan Cooperative Stock Company (headquartered in St. George) bought up many claims, though the Roundys declined to sell theirs. Dairy and livestock operations thrived due to the excellent grass and water; contemporary accounts praised the location for dairying.
In spring 1882, the David (or Daniel) Seegmiller and Edwin D. Woolley families arrived; Woolley had been called to manage the Church ranch. Mary Woolley (later Chamberlain) described a picturesque valley at the head of the Rio Virgin with lakes (including Levanger and Macdonald Lakes), pink cliffs (the same formation as Bryce Canyon), and community life that included a schoolhouse/church at a road fork and a recreation hall where dances lasted until daylight, with local musicians.
The settlement supported ranching, dairying, lumbering, and limited agriculture. It remained a scattered, primarily agricultural community rather than a densely built townsite.
Decline and Transition to Alton
By the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Upper Kanab was one of three small communities in the high mountain area (alongside Ranch and what became Alton). Residents sought better homes and a more formal town layout. In 1901, Jonathan Heaton bought significant land (including the Seegmiller estate) and moved his large family there. He had the “Oak Flat” area surveyed and lots sold. A schoolhouse was completed around 1908.
In 1908–1912 the new community adopted the name Alton (drawn from a hat containing suggestions including Heatonville, Oaktown, Snowville, and Klondyke; the winning name was inspired by Norway’s Alton Fjord and the local high elevation). Alton was formally planned in the Mormon village style, incorporated in 1935, and persisted as a ranching and agricultural town. Upper Kanab itself ceased to function as a distinct community and became a ghost town, with the original site largely abandoned in favor of Alton a few miles away.
Present Status and Context
Little remains of Upper Kanab beyond possible scattered foundations, cabin remnants, or landscape features associated with the early ranching and dairy operations. The high valley near the Sunset Cliffs / Paunsaugunt Plateau edge retains its scenic character. Alton continues as a small community (population historically fluctuating, around 100–200 in recent decades) focused on ranching and agriculture, serving as a quiet base near Bryce Canyon and other southern Utah attractions.
Upper Kanab’s history reflects typical patterns of southern Utah pioneer settlement: initial exploratory colonization, interruption by Indian conflicts in the mid-1860s, resilient return and economic focus on livestock and dairy suited to the high country, and eventual consolidation into more permanent townsites. Primary accounts come from local pioneer histories, family recollections (including Roundy and Woolley descendants), and Kane County histories. Note that some popular “ghost town” summaries occasionally conflate Upper Kanab details with the better-known history of Kanab itself (settled/abandoned/resettled on a different timeline farther south).