The museum in Boise interprets the path and impact Basque people have had in the US, mostly in Mexico and California. The museum building was built in 1912 for Juan Cruz Anduiza for Basque shepherds who spent winter in Boise.
Large numbers of Basque moved to California in the nineteenth century when the Gold Rush began. After the Gold Rush was over, many of them tended sheep because it didn’t require education or English proficiency. Despite being culturally suppressed during the Spanish-American War, their Euskara language was passed on through the generations and preserved by community institutions today. It is an endangered language that has been saved by its speakers.
Basque shepherds camped in wagons and didn’t see anyone else for days on end in the middle of nowhere. To leave their mark, they made arborglyphs by carving their names and images onto young aspen trees. Some images wouldn’t form until 20 years later, like graffitiing very slowly curing concrete.
