Despite its short tenure, the Jewish settlement of Clarion was the largest of the back-to-the-soil colonies in terms of land size and people, and it existed longer than any other colony west of the Appalachian Mountains.
1911: 6,000 acres in west Sanpete County were purchased by the Jewish Agricultural and Colonial Society under the direction of Benjamin Brown. Support and funding was assisted by the Utah Colonization Fund, supported by such prominent Utahns as Samuel Newhouse, George Auerbach, the Bambergers, Daniel Alexander and Adolph Baer.
Aug. 18, 1912: Harvest Day was attended by Utah Gov. William Spry.
Spring of 1913: 213 people lived in Clarion, sharing machinery, buying and selling cooperatively and working some 2,500 acres. However, they were plagued by floods and an early frost.
1915: A post office was established. It closed in 1916.
1917: The colony declared bankruptcy. By then only a handful of families remained in the area.
1923: A branch of the LDS Church was organized; its population was listed as "149 souls including 3 families of Jews."
1928: Population had increased to 166, and the branch became a ward.
1934: The LDS ward was disbanded "on account of shortage of water." Members were sent to Gunnison or Centerfield.
Benjamin Brown stayed in the area and helped found the Utah Poultry Cooperative Association, which was the forerunner of Intermountain Farmers Association.
Another young citizen of Clarion, Maurice Warshaw, who moved with his family to California at about age 16, came back to Utah to first peddle produce from a wagon, then open a store and expand it into the Grand Central and Warshaw market chains.