Around 1783 or, at least, by the summer of 1784, Alston moved northwest from Natchez. He settled in what is now Logan County, Kentucky, in the western part of the state, where he built Alston's Station, or fort, near the Red River. It was downstream of the mouth of the Big Whippoorwill. He farmed in the summer of 1784 and manufactured salt at Moate's Lick that autumn, assisted by old John Stuart. "He traded his salt for skins and then traded the skins off at Natchez or the Eastern States for goods, and he also, became the first merchant. Shortly afterwards, he and James Dromgoole did business together". In 1795, the settlers around Alston's Station included Jesse and William Green, Dromgoole (also spelled Drumgole), and Stuart and Matthew McClean.