RUINS

Continued from previous page sustain the thousand colonists and grow enough produce to generate income for the community.

As they continued to struggle, many people grew disillusioned with the utopian ideals of the community and left. In the end there were “too many people, too little water, and no money,” (Huxley). The Llano del Rio Cooperative Colony broke apart after just four years, with many members returning to ordinary lives.

Two hundred of the still optimistic colony members left to seek greener pastures in Vernon Parish, Louisiana and started the “New Llano” Cooperative Colony. New Llano was much more successful than the original Llano del Rio Cooperative Colony, with members pooling resources and sharing ownership of a newspaper, broom factory, sawmill, ice plant, and sheet metal factory through the Great Depression, up until 1937. With almost two decades of operation, the New Llano Cooperative Colony was