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258 Agricultural Colonies

THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

(TTuited States)

structive to the standing crops that

thi'

colonists were

conilicllcd to mortgage their farms; l]ul the nite of interest demamled on loans was so high that most si'ttlers sold out and moved away. A few remained a year or two longer; l)ut excessive interest on their mortgages and a scarcity of water proved a combination too iiowerful for tlicm, and

of the

in

the latter part of

ISS.")

they also left the settle-

ment. The failure may likewise be attributed, in a measure, to the distance of the colony from the railroad and the county-seat. Another attempt at Jewish colonization in South Dakota was made soon after, under the auspices of the Alliance Israelite Universelle. Twenty-live un-

were lit for cultivation. Water was scarce, except in the spring, when mountain Hoods endangered e.istence itwlf. During the lirst year of settlement there were in all l'> families at Cotopa.xi, with a of 04 persons. After many liardsliii)s the setwere comi)elled to leave the colony, as they could not make a living fnmi the soil, and had no other industries from which to derive an income. In the summer of ISbJ a Jewish agricultural colony of socialists was established in the southwestern portion of Oregon, near the California line, by a l>arty of Jews from Oiegon. souUiwesteru Russia, who called themselves "Sons of the Free," and named their settletotJil

tlers

TllK SCHOOLHOCSE, WOODBI.NE COLONY, (From a

married young men .settled as farmers >ipon a tract of land near Cremieux at a place wiiich they called Bethlehem -Yehudah. They carried on their work upon a communistic basis; but, not withstanding outside supi>ort. the experiment proved msuccessful. After a precarious existence of a year and a half, during which there were much strife and discontent in the community, the settlement was abandoned. An attempt to establish a Jewish agricultural colony in Colorado met with no better success. On

258

NKW

JKRSKV.

phol«gr»]>li.)

New

Cotopaxi in the state of Colorado, with means furnished by the Hebrew Emigrant Aid Society of Now York, The colonists were settled on government land, 160 acres being

Odessa. The colony was situated 265 miles from Portland, near the town of Glendale, on the California and Oregon Railroad. Originally there were 40 persons in thissettlement, most of them unmarried, and many of them would-be social refonners, A grave mistake was made in the selectiim of the land, but one-fourth of it being capable of cultivation. Some of the settlers lost courage before the first harvest and went awa)'. In March, 1884, 10 new settlers bought TOO acres for !?4,H(KI; of which about 100 acres were jilanted in oats, wheat, barley, and potatoes. few of the colonists tried to support themselves by cutting ties and firewood for the railroad, but to little purpose. This colony, too, proved a failure, and was abandoned

allotted to each family;

in 1888,

M;iy

!l.

ISS'2.

13 families

were sent

to

Colorado.

but of 1,780 acres 100 only

mcnt

A