Old Irontown was established in 1868 by Ebenezer Hanks and others who organized the Great Western Iron Manufacturing Co. as a cooperative enterprise. Its officers were E. Hanks, president, Homer Duncan, vice president, and Seth M. Blair, secretary. The plant ran day and night and produced 800 pounds of good-quality iron every 8 hours. In 1883, the enterprise was taken over by the Iron Manufacturing Co. of Utah, whose officers were George Q. Cannon, president, Thomas Taylor, vice president and manager, and John C. Cutler, secretary. A railroad was moved there from Nevada to haul coal from Cedar Canyon to Little Pinto, the name given this townsite.