Clarion, Utah: Jewish Colony in "Zion"

BY EVERETT L. COOLEY

Colonization in Utah did not end in 1877 with the death of the great colonizer, Brigham Young; nor did it end with the closing of the frontier in 1890. It is worth noting, however, that in their attempts to secure the main approaches to Mormon Country, the Mormons bypassed some good land. The settlement of this — the filling in of the by-passed areas — fell to later generations not normally classified as pioneers. And yet among the later colonists, there were some who were in every sense of the word, pioneers looking for their Zion in Utah. Such in fact was the small colony of Jews who came to Utah in 1911 under the leadership of Benjamin Brown, a modern Moses in the eyes of his contemporaries.

Although the modern colonists came by railroad instead of covered wagon, to an area surrounded by friendly Mormons instead of hostile Indians, the Jewish pioneers who attempted to establish a home at Clarion, Sanpete County, had to make personal sacrifices and adjustments in some ways comparable to the pioneers of earlier times. They had to break virgin soil to the plow; they were strangers in a foreign land; and they spoke a strange language. The colonists found themselves redesignated "Gentiles" by the Mormons, a term heretofore reserved for those not of their faith.

Precedents abound in the state's history of public assistance to encourage migration to Utah. The L.D.S. Perpetual Emigrating Fund, church teams, and detailed church supervision were all part of the early migration and settlement. After statehood the assistance offered new colonists came in the form of tax-supported irrigation projects, stays of foreclosure on lands taken up, and hired experts to instruct colonists in up-to-date agricultural and domestic methods.

However, long before the Clarion colonists were on the scene, the state was engaged in various schemes to attract settlers to locate within her borders.

Near the turn of the century, there was a veritable rash of expositions all over the country — the Louisiana Purchase Centennial in St. Louis, 1904; Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition in Portland, 1905; Alaska- Yukon-Pacific Exposition in Seattle, 1909; Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco, 1915; and the Panama-California Exposition in San Diego, also in 1915. Utah participated in all of these expositions by appointing commissions and making appropriations for exhibits varying in degree from a collection of mineral and agricultural products at Portland to the construction of a Utah Building in San Francisco. The money appropriated varied from $30,000 for Portland to $85,000 for the expositions at San Francisco and San Diego.

The object of Utah's participation was to draw settlers for both farms and industry. This was to be achieved through suitable displays of the products of the state's fields, orchards, mines, and factories.

In addition to the official displays of products, relief maps, illustrations, and literature, various business concerns supplied numerous circulars, brochures, and other enticements to attract attention to Utah. Typical of these were the brochures of a land company in Millard County showing thriving orchards and raspberry patches and alfalfa growing as high as a man's chest, all producing record crops in the area of Lyndyll and Oak City. Similar circulars were distributed by an irrigation and land company on the Bear River near Corinne and land promoters in other parts of the state.

Furthermore, in 1911 the old Utah State Bureau of Statistics, reorganized as the Bureau of Immigration, Labor and Statistics, was charged with the responsibility of gathering important data on Utah's resources and disseminating such information to prospective immigrants to the state.

With such large-scale advertising focused on the state, it is not surprising that a group of Jews in New York and Philadelphia should consider Utah as a possible colonizing site.

The specific site selected by the Jews was located in Sevier Valley, Sanpete County, three miles west and north of Axtell and seven miles south and west of Gunnison. In all some 6,085 acres of land were taken up — extending five miles north and south along the Sevier River and approximately three miles in width. The area was state land, administered by the Utah State Board of Land Commissioners,

In order to make the lands more valuable, the Utah Land Board in cooperation with the office of the Utah State Engineer purchased lands south of Marysvale, Piute County, where they constructed a dam to impound the waters of the Sevier River. The waters of the reservoir were intended to irrigate some 35,000 acres of state and private land.

To bring the water onto the land, a dam was constructed on the Sevier River at Joseph that directed a portion of the river into the Sevier Valley Canal, which in turn carried the water the first twenty miles to the vicinity of Richfield. From that point on the Land Board constructed a thirty-four-mile extension of the canal northward into Sanpete County.

While the land falling under the canal was appraised at figures varying from $3.00 to $25.00 per acre, the state sold over 6,000 acres to the Clarion colonists for $11.20 per acre with an additional charge of $35.00 per share of water in the Piute or State Canal. Title to the land and water was to remain with the state until final payment was made.

Precisely what drew the Jewish Colony to Sanpete County is difficult to determine. Utah was not the only state where attempts were made to found colonies. An article in The American Israelite of August 24, 1911, states:

This does not give the earliest indication of Jewish interest in Utah, but rather an indication that colonization was being carried on in other states at approximately the same period and for the same purpose.

The purpose of Jewish colonization is best set forth in a letter addressed to Governor William Spry by the leader of the Clarion Colony, Benjamin Brown.

The Clarion Colony had its beginning at a meeting in Philadelphia on January 10, 1910. At that meeting 150 Jews (95 from New York and 55 from Philadelphia) expressed their interest in taking up agricultural pursuits, and began to make plans by organizing the Jewish Agricultural and Colonial Association. The correspondence of the group indicates that the Association was incorporated under the laws of Delaware with B. Brown, president; L. A. Flax, vice-president and custodian; and J. Herbst, C.E., secretary.

Of these men, Benjamin Brown was to become the guiding force of the Colony, but other men of importance were Joseph Miller and Benjamin Fruckerman, graduates of the Baron de Hirsch, National Farm School in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

Aside from Brown and the two graduates of the Farm School, who were also members of the Jewish Agricultural and Colonial Association, there existed another close tie between the officers of the Association and the Farm School. Joseph Krauskopf, president of the school and Rabbi Isaac Landman of the executive board, served as directors of the newly organized Colonial Association.

The plans of the Association called for an initial settlement of some two hundred families in a colony in Utah with an eventual expansion to one thousand families. To effect this, all three groups — the Farm School, the Jewish Agricultural Aid Society, and the Colonial Association — cooperated in contacting prominent Jews in the West to select a suitable location for a farm colony. One of these men contacted was the mining man and financier, Samuel Newhouse, of Salt Lake City. On behalf of the Association, Newhouse approached Governor William Spry, who responded with the following letter.

In due time Benjamin Brown and J. Herbst, the civil engineer, came to Utah to examine available land. They were cordially received by Samuel Newhouse, George Auerbach, and others. Governor Spry gave a dinner in their honor at which representatives of Utah's State Land Board and Salt Lake City's Commercial Club were in attendance.

Apparently, what Brown and Herbst saw and heard impressed them; for upon their return to Philadelphia, Benjamin Brown wrote to Governor Spry that the Association was definitely interested in securing state lands under the Piute Reservoir Project in Sanpete County, and that he (Brown) was returning to Utah to "close the deal."

In August of 1911, 6,085 acres of state land were auctioned to the Jewish Agricultural and Colonial Association on the following terms: Land was sold at an average $11.20 per acre, with one-tenth of the purchase price required as a down payment, and the balance to be paid over a ten-year period with an interest charge of five per cent. The down payment of $6,815.20 was raised by the members who were required to invest $350.00 each in the Association. For this amount the members were entitled to be placed on the eligible list for the Utah land. Many of the members of the Association were poor people, recent immigrants from Russian who had to borrow the initial $350.00 entrance fee. They were, furthermore, ill-suited to the type of agriculture they were to encounter under irrigation. One of the graduates of the Farm School claimed he had to unlearn all the agriculture he had been taught, since his training was concerned with farming on small tracts under less arid conditions. Undoubtedly, one of the greatest handicaps the Colony had to overcome was the almost total lack of farming knowledge or experience among the members.

The records of the Utah State Land Board contain the applications of 152 Jews for title to land and water under the Piute Reservoir Project. The "Private Sales Files" is a most rewarding source of information on each applicant. If an alien, the applicant had to file a Declaration of Intention to become a citizen. The Declaration gives place of birth and residence, date of birth, and occupation.

From this source we learn that Hyman Dinerstein was an "operator" (factory worker), residing at 77 Second Avenue, New York, who emigrated to the United States on the vessel New York from Vilna, Russia, and arrived in New York on July 24, 1904. Other Declarations give information on Jeremiah Andrews, a laundryman from Minsk, Russia; Boris Sxraly, a tailor from Tirospol, Russia; Morris Weissenberg, an artist from Jitomir, Russia; Leon Sandratzky, a machinist from Odessa, Russia; Sam Levitsky, a furrier from Kiev, Russia; Harry Brazin, a mirror maker from Kremcnchuk, Russia; and so on. Other trades represented were bricklayer, civil engineer, laborer, trimming dealer, picture frame maker, cabinet maker, machinist, druggist, carpenter, weaver, electrician, bookbinder, railroad conductor, cutter, student, and one honest-togoodness farmer—Harry Tucker, twenty-six years of age, from Walinsky, Russia. For the most part the men were in their twenties and early thirties, physically in the prime of their lives.

Not all of the Association members moved to Utah, but within a month of the purchase of the land in August 1911, twelve pioneers were sent to Clarion to prepare for the later and larger migration. Although outfitted with the best equipment, they lived in tents. Crops they planted and harvested were owned by the Association, and the workers themselves were paid a $15.00 weekly wage until such time as the individual colonist moved onto his forty acres of land to be tilled as he chose. But in the beginning it was a cooperative effort — all produce going into a common storehouse. By spring planting time in 1912, 1,500 acres had been cleared, plowed, and planted to wheat, oats, and alfalfa.

Meanwhile on November 11, 1911, Benjamin Brown reorganized the Jewish Agricultural and Colonial Association under Utah laws, with a capitalization of $30,000 and Gunnison as the principal place of business. The stockholders, twelve in number, were the recent arrivals from the East. The officers and directors were identical with the stockholders, with Benjamin Brown listed as president and director.

Of special interest to show the breadth and scope of the Association is Article IV of the Articles of Incorporation.

There seems to be no limit to the kind of activity the Association might become involved in. But then these were the ideas of the man Benjamin Brown who has been labeled "a dreamer" by a business associate. Eventually, however, Brown's dreams were fulfilled in another undertaking. 17 But in regard to the Jewish Agricultural and Colonial Association, the ideas never progressed beyond the dream stage.

Difficulties soon arose at the Colony. The original subscription money was gone, the second year installment on the land payment was due, and nothing had been paid on the water shares — payment which did not fall due until water had been actually delivered. Additional colonists were desirous of moving on to their land. By September of 1912 the Colony had grown to include twenty-three heads of families, four single men, eleven wives, and twenty-two children — a total population of sixty. By spring it was hoped the families of all the married men could be added to the Colony. Plans were laid for settling fifty-two families on their farms by spring 1913. Houses (mostly shacks) were pushed to completion to be ready for the incoming colonists.

But all this stretched the resources of the Association beyond its capacity, and relief was sought in several areas. One was in the form of a claim for damages pressed by the Colony through the law firm of Booth, Lee, Badger, Rich, and Parke against the State of Utah for failure to deliver the promised amount of water to the Colony's lands. The amount of damages asked was $14,250. This figure was arrived at by comparing the quantity of grain produced on lands with sufficient water as compared to the quantity produced on lands suffering from lack of water.

Since the State Board of Land Commissioners was unable to make the payment, a claim was presented to the 1913 State Legislature.

There is no question that the Colony was entitled to reimbursement, for the new canal was far from reliable. Several breaks occurred which left the Clarion farmers without water for several days at a time. Then, too, an equitable system of apportionment had not been worked out.

The necessary weirs and dividing gates had not been installed to insure the Jews on the end of the canal their fair share of water. There seems to be ample evidence that the old farmers higher up on the canal had all the water they wanted, while the newcomers lower down on the canal went without. Even when a canal rider was employed, the situation was not altogether corrected. Headgates found closed on a regularly scheduled tour along the canal would be found open when an unscheduled ride was made. There seems to have been unfair advantage taken of the untrained, non-English speaking Jews.

But the Colony could not survive from its income of only $14,000 the first year, especially since disbursements were $18,413. So other sources of revenue were sought besides the claim against the state. All the members were induced to transfer to the Association by trust deed their individual contracts with the state. Then the Association transferred all of its assets to a new organization, The Utah Colonization Fund, Incorporated.

The Fund was incorporated in June of 1912 by several leading Jewish residents of Salt Lake City. Its objectives and purposes (Article IV), outside of the first paragraph "To aid and assist the Jewish Agricultural and Colonial Association, its associated companies, the members thereof, and other like associations . . .," were almost identical to those of the Association, which the Fund was designed to assist. The Fund was capitalized for $ 100,000 with par value of the stock set at $ 100.00. Names of the principal stockholders were Adolph Baer, of Baer Mercantile Company; Adolph Simon, of Paris Millinery Company; George S. Auerbach; Louis Cohn; Samuel Newhouse; David Spitz; Nathan Rosenblatt; Edward Rosenbaum; and Daniel Alexander. In addition three members of the Colonial Association — Benjamin Brown, Bernard Horowitz, and Abraham Wernick — were listed as stockholders, the last three holding most of the stock.

The Association was really attempting to raise money ($150,000) on land they did not hold title to — in fact on land for which only one payment had been made. Therefore, the officers of the Association were engaging in a practice which was highly irregular if not wholly illegal. Certainly the subscribers to the Fund must have been aware of this and subscribed to stock in the sense of a contribution to a needy cause.

Unable to find sufficient financial support for his colony in Utah, Benjamin Brown, armed with a letter of introduction from Governor Spry, traveled east to contact wealthy Jews. One of the first to be approached was Julius Rosenwald, of Sears Roebuck Company in Chicago. Apparently Mr. Rosenwald agreed to purchase one-half of the unsubscribed bonds issued by the Utah Colonization Fund, provided the Jewish Agricultural Aid Society would subscribe to the other half.

The representatives of the Agricultural Aid Society, of New York, while impressed with the leadership of the Colony and the progress already made on the farmlands, were of the opinion $600,000 were needed to settle all the 152 families of the Association in Utah instead of the $150,000 Brown was trying to raise. And as security, the Association was offering only about $45,000 in capital investments. With such a precarious financial arrangement, the Aid Society rejected the pleadings of Benjamin Brown and Rabbi Landman and refused to subscribe for one-half of the bonds. Furthermore, members of the Aid Society advised Mr. Rosenwald of their decision and of the unsound financial condition of the Colony. So rather than a $65,000 bond subscription, Mr. Rosenwald purchased $2,500 — more by way of a contribution than an investment.

By such contributions and a more bountiful harvest, the Colony held on through 1913. There were fifty-two families farming at Clarion by the summer of that year. A school, which also served as a church, and thirty-three homes were constructed, but some families still lived in tents. A statement of the Colony's leader in October 1913, claimed that $100,000 had been invested in the Colony, but further financing was needed. So once more the president of the Colony, Benjamin Brown, took to the road to raise funds, He enlisted the support of Governor Spry, Senator Reed Smoot, and other state officials — particularly members of the Land Board. Governor Spry, Attorney General A. R. Barnes, and President W. D. Candland of the State Board of Land Commissioners also journeyed to New York to assist the Colony in obtaining more financing. However, their efforts were in vain. The Agricultural Aid Society refused to support the Colony and discouraged any further migration to Utah.

There was ample reason for such an attitude. The Colony after three years of operation had proved to be unprofitable. Each year the income had declined in proportion to the disbursements. The deficit for 1913 was $3,788.13; for 1914, $89,128.52; and for 1915, $81,993.89. For all their expenditures the colonists were paying nothing to the state, either on the principal or the interest, for their lands and water.

Although the final outcome of the venture seemed apparent to everyone on the outside, those intimately connected with the Colony — Benjamin Brown, Isaac Landman, and Governor Spry — worked hard to keep it alive.

Through the influence of the governor, the Land Board granted one extension after another to give the floundering Colony "one more chance." In 1915 the legislature was once again petitioned to help the Colony due to the failure of an adequate water supply. But it refused to respond.

It now became very apparent that payments could not be made on the land or the water. Finally on November 5, 1915, the State Land Board was forced to take the following action.

Meanwhile Simon Bamberger and other wealthy Jews of Utah came to the aid of the colonists by giving them sufficient funds to return to the East or rehabilitate themselves in the West.

Even with the colonists abandoning the project after the State Land Board had cancelled the contracts, Benjamin Brown still held on. He directed further appeals to Governor Spry to intercede in the Colony's behalf with the Land Board — either to extend credit or refund the one payment on the land, or failing all else permit the colonists to reap the benefits of their improvements when the land was resold at auction.

The governor took pains to inform his petitioners that the one payment had long since been deposited in the state treasury and spent, that a receiver for the creditors had been appointed by the court, and that he (the governor) had done everything in his power to save the Colony. Their requests for further help could not be met.

On January 18, 1916, the lands of the Jewish Colony at Clarion were offered for sale at public auction. The Deseret News for that day carried not a single word on the plight of the ill-fated colonists of Clarion. It did, however, one week later carry the following headline: CON­ TRIBUTE FOR SUFFERING JEWS. However, the suffering Jews were not at Clarion or in Utah, but those of the war zone in Europe where World War I was raging. Twenty-five hundred dollars were collected from an audience in the Assembly Hall, where the work and culture of the Jews were praised by Professor Levi E. Young and Reverend Elmer J. Goshen, but not a word was said about the struggling colony in Utah that had attempted to make a new way of life for refugees from the ghettos of Russia.

In conception the Clarion Colony was a noble and notable undertaking. Had it fulfilled only a small portion of the objectives of the parent organization, the Colony would have made a significant imprint on the economy of the state. But, as it was, it died with a debt of more than $300,000 owed the state, and numerous investors lost all of their savings.

In answer to the question why the Colony failed when all around were examples of success under even more unfavorable conditions, one must conclude that the motivation was not so great for the Jews as for Utah colonists of an earlier period. From testimony gathered through correspondence from participants and persons living in the surrounding area, it is apparent that the colonists lacked a determination, a will tosucceed as farmers. Their farm career was a temporary employment until they could return to their particular trade. This attitude is even expressed in the objectives of their Association, where greater emphasis was placed upon various businesses than upon farming. Furthermore, authoritarian leadership and organization among the Jews were absent when compared to earlier group cooperative colonization. A religious zeal to succeed, so prominent among the Mormons, was lacking in the Jewish experiment.

Undoubtedly, the area selected for the Colony was an unfortunate choice and, therefore, contributed to the failure of the project. Accordingto a report by the Sanpete County agricultural agent, the site of the Colony is not extremely productive at the present time. Where there is sufficient water (about three times as much as the Jews had) good crops of alfalfa are raised today. But the soil is unsuited for grains or truck gardens because it is too shallow. Only about half of the six thousand acres is farmed at the present time, the remainder is suitable only for grazing.

The forty-acre tracts designed for the colonists were economically unrealistic. Under high-priced irrigation systems, much larger farms are needed to support a family. And one wonders what part the forced purchase of land and water played in the Colony's failure. Pioneers of an earlier period found land and water for the taking. The Jews were faced with immediate debt. Certainly the fact that the Jews were unprepared for the type of agriculture they were forced to pursue was a significant factor that led to the failure of the Colony. The state even hired men trained in irrigation methods to work with the Jews to show them the proper techniques. Still, they failed to comprehend or carry out the procedures necessary for successful irrigation. Perhaps an overall understanding of farm methods was lacking. At least this is the belief of the residents of the neighboring communities. There the story is told of the colonist who complained his cow would give no milk after but a few weeks of milking. The difficulty arose from the fact he extracted only the amount of milk he wanted at the moment — one day two quarts, another day one quart, and perhaps the next day, none at all.

Another story is told of the colonist who tried to let his horses drink at a stream by jacking up the hind wheels of the wagon to which they were hitched, rather than removing the check rein from the names. Apocryphal or not, the stories reflect the attitudes of surrounding neighbors toward the "unusual" methods of the Jewish colonists.

Was there nothing then left behind by the colonists, besides stories to add to Utah's folklore? Yes, there is a significant legacy to Utah from the Jewish colony. Benjamin Brown, although called a dreamer, was also a man of determination. He, his brother Nathan, and ten or twelve other families remained on the land and paid rent to the state. They began to raise chickens and looked to Benjamin Brown to market their eggs and poultry. Brown opened a grading plant at Gunnison, and soon turned to California for a market. He then expanded his supply area to Sevier and Juab counties and formed the Central Utah Poultry Exchange. Brown was joined by Clyde C. Edmunds, Harry H. Metzger, George A. Brown, and Albertus Willardson, and in February 1923 the Utah Poultry Producers, Incorporated, was organized on a semi-cooperative basis. Their business eventually spread to the markets of New York. On December 27, 1923, the Articles of Incorporation were amended, and the Utah Poultry Producers Cooperative Association was born. Since then the organization has expanded into the Intermountain Farmers Association which serves the interests of Utah farmers, doing $9,125,000 worth of business in 1967.

Thus, while the Jewish Colony itself failed, some of its members remained in Utah to make significant and lasting contributions to the economy of the state.

"Clarion was the most of my vivid recollection and review of tales and legends of that area.

"My sister Claire was named after the place of great dreams and efforts of our family there. My sisters Claire and May and my brother Myer 'Mike,' of Blessed Memory also was born there."

(Letter to author from Benjamin Kristol, Merion, Pennsylvania, September 1, 1965)

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