Kelton, at mile 734.1 from San Francisco, served as a section station for the Central Pacific Railroad from 1869-1942. Originally called Indian Creek, it was soon renamed Kelton in honor of a local stockman. The town grew around the railroad section station and had large water cisterns to fill daily trains of water cars, with water originally carried by redwood pipelines seven miles from the foot of the Raft River Mountains across this arid region. In its early years, Kelton had a post office, a two-story hotel, and several saloons, stores, and homes. About 100 people lived there in 1870, and the population later peaked at about 200, plus an uncounted Chinese population of considerable size. Stagecoaches left daily, carrying passengers to Boise in two days, Walla Walla in four days, and Portland in five-and-a-half days. The Wells Fargo stagecoach line from Kelton to the rich northern mines was reportedly the most often robbed stage line in the west, usually held up every week and sometimes daily. Kelton's prosperity declined after the Lucin Cutoff across the Great Salt Lake was completed. When the cutoff opened in 1904, the line through Kelton became a backup route for problems on the Lucin Cutoff, and train service fell to weekly runs. Although Kelton continued as a shipping point for local trade and still had a post office, general store, telegraph office, and hotel, its population had fallen to 47 by 1937. Remains of the old hotel and cemetery can still be seen at the site today.