About Escalante

Escalante is in Potato Valley on All American Highway 12 and the upper reaches of the Escalante River. The town was first named Potato or Spud Valley for the edible wild potatoes that grew in the area.  The name was changed to Escalante by Almon Thompson of the Powell surveys.  The name honors the famous Spanish explorer who passed this area far to the west in 1776 with the leader of the expedition, Dominguez.  The members of the expedition never came near the valley.  The valley was discovered by whites in 1866 during the Black Hawk War when a group of Mormon cavalry ventured into the valley while pursuing Indians.  In 1876 Philo Allen, Sr., build the first log cabin at the mouth of Corn Creek in Main Canyon.

Potato Valley

is at the junction of Alvey Wash and the Escalante River.  The valley was originally discovered by whites in 1875 when a group from Panguitch arrived in search of a milder climate.  At the same time, Captain James Andrus arrived with his cavalrymen in pursuit of Indians.  These two groups, in addition to the local Indians, subsisted on the wild potato (solanum jamesii) growing in the valley.  The variant name is Spud Valley/

Alvey Wash

originates on the southeast slopes of Death Ridge at the orth end of the Kaiparowits Plateau.  It drains to the north -northeast to Escalante then southeast into Harris Wash.  Today the middle section of Alvey Wash is call Tenmile Wash and the lower section is called Harris Wash. 

Alvey Wash was named after William Alvey, \an initail settler who grazed horses along the upper reaches of the wash.  Alvey Wash was one of the first places to be named by members of the Powell Survey.

Information courtesy of "Utah Place Names" by John W. Van Cott  1997 Edition