A clarion call to return to the land was issued to Jewish families concentrated in urban areas throughout the United States at the beginning of the 20th century.
"Jews in the early 1900s began embracing the concept that to be close to the soil was to be close to God," said University of Utah history professor Robert Goldberg. "Jews in large cities had been prescribed from owning land and were often restricted to certain occupations. A `back to the soil' movement began as reaction to these circumstances."Many Jews looked to the West. In 1911, the Utah State Land Board sold 6,000 acres in the Gunnison Valley to the Jewish Colonial Association, and the migration commenced.
Thirteen men journeyed to Sanpete County and prepared 1,500 acres for planting. Boundaries were drawn, and the town of Clarion was established on the southern outskirts of Centerfield, four miles west of U.S. 89.
"Seventy Jewish families, mostly from Philadelphia, soon settled in Clarion. Land was divided, and a collective farm, or
Moshaw was formed," said Goldberg.
Optimism resonated throughout the young community. Settlers planted wheat, oats and alfalfa. Attractive frame houses, barns, a schoolhouse and eventually a post office were built, often with the assistance of the settlers' new Latter-day Saint neighbors.
"The founders of Clarion were well-received," added Goldberg, who recently authored a history of Clarion, "Back to the Soil." "Mormons welcomed Jews as biblical cousins and treated the settlers kindly. Proselytizing did not take place, and agricultural advisers from Utah State College came to Clarion and provided farming instruction."
Clarion's fields produced a bountiful harvest in 1912. Town leaders were elected, folks were enthusiastic and Gov. William Spry praised the community for its efforts during the first Clarion harvest celebration.
Unfortunately, prosperity was short-lived.
"An inadequate water supply led to the eventual failure of the Clarion community. Often there was no water - which meant no crops," said Goldberg.
Subsequent seasons witnessed a weak yield of produce and grains. Settlers struggled to make their loan payments, and foreclosures began. By 1916 the colony was bankrupt. Most settlers had no choice but to sell their land and return to the cities.
"A few Jewish families remained but eventually left out of fear of assimilation. The settlers wanted their children to receive college educations and marry other Jews," Goldberg said.
Local farmers who were members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints moved into the Jewish homes. In 1925, there were enough people residing in Clarion to establish a church ward. The town's new residents soon battled the same enemy that plagued their Jewish predecessors - inadequate water. A prolonged drought began in 1933, and within a year the area was deserted.
Today, decayed foundations, a gravel road and two headstones on a desolate hillside engraved with Hebraic inscriptions serve as lonely reminders to a settlement built by the promise of prosperity. Still, to many Jews, the Sanpete County ghost town survives as a precious family memory.
"Descendants of the men and women who settled Clarion recognize the settlement as a critical moment in time in their heritage," Goldberg said. "The town was indeed a clarion call to Jews to leave the cities and return to the soil. Pilgrimages to Clarion are common, as Jewish families from the East once again journey to the West to remember a high point in their family's history."
This article is one of a weekly series about the people, places and issues along Utah's U.S. 89.