One hundred years ago, dozens of Jewish families did something that would have been unthinkable for many of their ancestors.
They left crowded East Coast cities and trekked westward, to central Utah, to farm.
It was an attempt at agricultural living — among a people not known as farmers — that drew more than 250 people over a five-year period to a settlement near present-day Gunnison.
That settlement, called Clarion, may not have existed long, but many want to ensure its legacy continues to flower. That’s why members of Utah’s Jewish community, descendants of the settlers and others plan to gather in Clarion this weekend to commemorate the 100th anniversary of its founding.
"So many of our ancestors went and lived in cities," said University of Utah history professor Bob Goldberg, who wrote a book about the colony called Back to the Soil: The Jewish Farmers of Clarion, Utah, and Their World. "They lived on the lower east side. They lived in Chicago and Philadelphia. This small group of people that went off to the land are basically unheard of."
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