Immigration is a recurring topic of discussion. We observe situations where there are controversies (the United States) and situations where it is necessary to preserve demography (Japan or South Korea). But almost all towns have needed to move at some point. And certainly the United States has been the destination for most of them.

Migration to North America has been a centuries-old phenomenon, and one of the groups that went to California during the gold rush to seek fortune was the Basques.

gold rush. We need to go to the Sierra Nevada. Not the one in Andalusia, but the one in California. It is a mountain range located in California, which also extends into the state of Nevada. The famous Sequoia National Park, Kings Canyon National Park, and the famous Yosemite National Park (the website tells this story) are located in the Sierra Nevada.

And something found in the mountain range was gold. There was so much gold that it was one of the highlights of the so-called ‘Gold Rush’ between 1948 and 1855.

And from wool. When miners spread the news of gold, California’s population grew like wildfire, making livestock farming as well as the gold industry vital. Not only did the fortune seekers need to be fed, but warm clothing also had to be made. But in 1963, a drought occurred that destroyed the livestock industry and made meat scarce.

Solutions had to be found, and thus a new industry was born: sheep herding. This was common in other regions, but not so much in the United States. Sheep were more tolerant of these conditions and could also be directed to more prosperous areas for grazing and provisioning. They were perfect: They were more durable, and could provide meat and wool if necessary for miners and Civil War soldiers alike.

Yosemite can’t be easy in the winter. In the summer… both

Basque shepherds in Yosemite. It was a new industry and they needed workers, and there was a group with pedigree in the role. Basques, who immigrated to the United States in search of opportunity in the 19th century, come into play. Many traveled from the Basque Country, but there were also some who traveled from the Pampas of Argentina. They were not the only ones, as there were also Portuguese, Chileans, Mexicans, and Scots with pastoral experience who came to the United States.

The majority of Basque herders in California came from the Iparralde, and differed from other groups in that the Basques had built an industry consisting almost of endogamy. You didn’t need to know the language to work (you could start with something very simple), but the interesting thing was that Basque immigrants were businessmen, owned sheep, and employed shepherds who were friends or relatives. This created a strong Basque community in the mountains of California.

cultural houses. Shepherds could tend flocks of thousands of sheep and lambs at the same time. They stayed in Basque-owned hostels that formed cultural and community centers, and the interesting thing was that the money was used for two purposes: to send to family in Europe and to return in the future. to have a better economic situation or, on the contrary, to use it to settle in the United States.

If this was the case, shepherds (usually young, single men) devoted their earnings to investing in purchasing more sheep so that they could have their own flocks and thus become more self-sufficient.

It wasn’t simple. It was no longer an easy lifestyle. Not only was the climate harsh, but so were the terrain and dangers such as wild animals. They were away from home for months, especially during the summer months, so it was not possible for them to get medical help if they got sick or something happened to them. They were also exploring the terrain and the best routes in real time, so it was entirely up to them to avoid going into places that were too complicated. But the worst thing was loneliness.

Months of lack of human contact caused these herders to develop mental crises; this was something the shepherds themselves christened with the term ‘sabeche’ or ‘sheep’. When the shepherding season ended, they took refuge in cultural centers and hostels run by other Basques to recuperate. And they were not immune to xenophobia. Lacking opportunities to learn English, they sought refuge in their own communities, resulting in harsh rejection by the local population.

A road junction marker

Everything has an end. In those early years there was no legislation and priests could basically do whatever they wanted. It is estimated that tens of thousands of sheep grazed in the Tuolumne Meadows area, but as is often the case, that changed when Yosemite became a national park and other areas became legally protected as nature reserves.

This made grazing illegal in an area of ​​more than 1,500 square miles, including Toulumne Meadows, so herders were persecuted. And there were no police officers or forest rangers in charge other than the army – all these were not there because they were newly created.

These arboglyphs with initials and dates were common. This dates back to 1885.

He challenges the army. The army cleared the park of shepherds, but although they were after the Basques, they had an advantage: experience and knowledge of the terrain. This is what allowed them to evade the army for years (though it was usually successful in driving off shepherds), but by 1906 reports of sheep entering Yosemite had diminished and the Taylor Grazing Act of 1934 put an end to this sheep herding. This activity is on public lands

Livestock farming began to get back on track, emerging as an important sector, thanks both to the changing conditions of the country and, above all, to the formulation of laws that encouraged this change.

It’s not entirely clear what this carving represents, but there were several like it.

ArboglyphsBasque heritage in California. However, there are still Basque shepherds in the American West who practice this age-old activity as a profession. And beyond this history, what remains to us is an indelible cultural heritage: arboglyphs. Because the shepherds spent so much time alone, boredom led them to carve wood. It has become an art, but also a form of mail for other pastors.

Routes, proper names, dates, jokes, obscene content were engraved (this sounds familiar to us, Pompeii) and above all they were helpful when the army came into play. So the shepherds warned each other of the army’s presence.

Heritage. Now, marking a tree in one of these parks is illegal, punishable by fines and imprisonment, but the rest is a reminder of hard, lonely, and necessary work that was under-recognized at the time it was developed. This helped North American Basques develop a reputation as tough guys who were not afraid to confront nature.

Pictures | National Park Service, Heiko von Raußendorff, Darwinek

in Xataka | There is a city in the USA that was “colonized” by the Basques. And they have their own ikastola, fronton and ikurriña on the street