Richland, Washington, era begins

The Hanford Project was established by the U.S. Government in 1943 for the purpose of producing plutonium for the Manhattan Project's atomic bombs. Seven hundred and eighty square miles of land in southeastern Washington State was purchased for this purpose. DuPont Corporation was made the primary contractor.

"Camp Hanford" was located 25 miles north of Richland. It provided temporary living quarters for workers during the initial phase of construction. The camp was made up of many dormitories, mess halls and thousands of house trailers. Raphael and son DeVon, lived in one of the dorms for 4 months, from  November 1943 to the second week in March 1944.

Richland was a small farming community on the banks of the Columbia River (within the project area), and was transformed into a large city where employees of the project could live with their families. Hundreds of new houses, along with schools, churches, theater, dormitories, offices and commercial facilities were rapidly built.

One day, Dad sent word to Pearl in Taylorsville, that everything was in readiness for the family to make the move to Richland. Enroute there by train from Salt Lake City, the Clement family looked forward to their new home with anticipation. The train rolled to a stop in Pocatello, Idaho (a major switch-station) for a short lay-over, but nobody minded as we had a nicely furnished family compartment to ourselves in one of the cars. The lay-over gave the kids a chance to walk through the cars and work off some pent up energy. 

Since DeVon was already with Dad, and Don and Bud were away in the service, it left only seven of us in the company; Pearl, Grandpa Clement, Beverly, Carroll, Barbara, Shanna and two year old Charles Ray.

It was still daylight when the family arrived at Wallula, Washington, the 16 March 1944 (no train station), 18 miles south of Pasco. We were met by Dad and a furious, dense sandstorm. Dad told everyone to cover their noses and mouths with whatever they could find - jackets, handkerchiefs, anything - in order to shield themselves from inhaling the stinging grains of sand as they made a dash for the car. They were to continue doing so inside the car for the ride to Richland, as the storm was not likely to subside for awhile. The sandstorm was so dense, Dad couldn't see more than two feet ahead of the car and had to drive slowly, much the same as in dense fog. Such was our introduction to the climate of southeastern Washington, where sandstorms of this kind are commonplace. Even so, moving to Richland was an exciting new adventure to us.

The houses had sprung up almost overnight, and were ready to be occupied. Our family was one of the first to get  one, but we had to wait a week for our furniture to arrive by moving van from Utah. In the meantime, we stayed at the Desert Inn, a Hotel which overlooked the Columbia River. 

When the furniture finally arrived, Raphael settled his family into the brand new, two-story house they had picked, at 706 Taylor St. It was a convenient spot since a grocery store and a drug store was just across the street from the house. Schools were within walking distance.

It being war time, everything was kept secret by the government, so the majority of the people did not know the reason they were there. Only a handful of scientists knew what the Manhattan Project was all about. Because we didn't know, we were able to enjoy life in this new place with plenty of government amenities. The amenities were good enough to make the people want to stay, since the extreme desert heat and frequent high winds might make them give up and leave the project.

By the time our family arrived there, a new little Branch of the L.D.S. Church had been organized. We were a family of nine now that we had joined Dad and DeVon. This made a sudden and welcome increase in the Branch membership to a total of 23.