Is Sandy's name full of sand?

Where and how did Sandy, Utah's fourth-largest city, receive its name?

After many hours of research, the answer is still indefinite and may never be known for certain. However, some theories are more likely than others and thorough research uncovers some important early history of Sandy.

The two most commonly cited origins to Sandy's name are:

1. It was named for Alexander "Sandy" Kinghorn, a legendary, sandy-bearded, red-haired railroad engineer, who hauled cargo and people to the south end of the Salt Lake Valley, starting in 1871.

2. Brigham Young named the area "Sandy," after taking one of the first trains to the area, by saying, "Sand! Sand! Everywhere sand! We'll call this place Sandy."

There are the only two name possibilities cited in both "A History of Salt Lake County," by Linda Sillitoe (1996) and in "The History and People of Early Sandy," by Roxie N. Rich (1979).

The other and much less frequently cited possibility.

3. Sandy was received it name in general from the sandy nature of its soil, attributable to no one person in particular.

Let's examine this trio of possibilities in extensive detail:

According to Don Strack of Salt Lake City, who has conducted extensive research on Utah's railroads (and who has an extensive Web site on that research, utahrails.net), the railroad arrived in what today is Sandy in early September of 1871.

"The railroad was known as the Utah Southern," Strack wrote in an e-mail to the Deseret Morning News. "Having had its groundbreaking at Salt Lake City in May 1871, construction had progressed rapidly along what today is Utah Transit Authority's TRAX light rail line."

Indeed, the first newspaper reference to a "Sandy station" is found in the Sept. 13, 1871 issue of the Deseret News, where it is described as "the nearest point to Little Cottonwood kanyon (sic)."

(Many early Utah newspapers are searchable by keyword now on a State of Utah Web site: pioneer.utah.gov.)

Kinghorn was a real person, but it seems unlikely that only a few weeks of train service to the area by early September was enough to firmly affix his nickname to the rail station and soon the entire community.

Some Utah pioneer towns were named for people (Murray, Brigham City, Layton, etc.) but most such titles stem from early settlers or prominent leaders in the area.

So, the Sandy train engineer origin seems unlikely.