Clearfield Settlement

They called it the land of wind and sand, and settled it last. Richard and Emily Hamblin came in 1877 and dug into a sagebrush-roofed dugout on a dry ridge where nothing grew — hauling their water by barrel from a creek in Layton until Hamblin finally struck a well. What changed everything was the canal: when Davis and Weber County water reached the ridge in 1884, the sand turned to farmland almost overnight. A teacher looking over the new green fields suggested the name Clearfield. The old name had been Sand Ridge, and it had been honest.

What the plaque says

Daughters of Utah Pioneers No. 239 Erected 1957 Settlement of Clearfield Clearfield was first known as Sand Ridge where dry farming began in 1869. First settlers, Richard and Emily Hamblin, built a small dugout with dirt floor and thatched roof of sagebrush and dirt in 1877. Drinking water was hauled from Layton. After several attempts Mr. Hamblin sunk a well which struck water. With the building of the Davis and Weber County Canal and the completion of East Canyon Dam, water was available and crops could be grown in the sandy soil. The town prospered. The name Sand Ridge was changed when the community became a school district. Wild Rose Camp Seagull Camp North Davis County, Utah

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Hill Aerospace Museum — 3.4 mi
  Over 90 military aircraft displayed indoors and on the tarmac
• Ogden Union Station — 8.0 mi
  A grand 1924 train depot turned museum complex
• Lagoon Amusement Park — 11 mi
  A beloved family amusement park operating since 1886
• Snowbasin — 11 mi
  One of the country's oldest ski areas and a 2002 Olympic downhill venue — world-class terrain that somehow still skis uncrowded.

More markers nearby

• Alma Stoker Park — 2.1 mi
• Syracuse First Social Center — 2.7 mi
• Clinton — 2.8 mi
• First Post Office in Roy — 3.1 mi