Asturian-American Migration Forum

Apparently, a large community of Spaniards (man asturian and basque) moved to states such as Oregon, and Idaho. In Oregon, for example, they even have an old jailai ball court. In Idaho, if I'm not mistaken, they have even formed an association/museum to commeorate those spaniards.

Does anyone have more in depth information about this immigration of Spaniards?

It's all about the sheep. In San Francisco (well, Marin Co., actually) the Basques were brought in to tend the flocks by the landowners, and there are still lots of working Basque family flocks all over the place out there.

Don't know anything of Asturianus moving out there, though.

I don't know about asturianus in the San Francisco area, but I do remember (from the 1960's and 1970's a wonderful Basque restaurant in San Franciso that served its meals family style. It was called Elu's. Excellent food and not too expensive for a graduate student. I wonder if it's still there.

Hi Sandy...We speak again.

I lived in California for 11 years...but as great as it was...I never could find authentic Spanish cuisine and food products...so back to Tampa!!

There are many Basque communities in the West..and yes, it's all about sheep. The major centers of Basque culture are Boise, Idaho, Elko and Ely Nevada and Reno,Nevada. The University of Nevada at Reno has the Center for Basque studies. The extent to which they have preserved and documented their history is impressive. If you search the web under"Boise Basque" etc much info will come-up.

Tony

Well I can tell you that it is all about the sheep. I am currently living in Asturias and found this forum because I was looking for information about asturianos migrating to California for sheep hearding. The reason for my interest is that just two days ago I ran into this guy who had been in California for more than 20 years. He told me some story about it and it was fascinating, but also sad. I started asking about people going from here to California and it seems like there where a few. A lot of them never came back, nor did they hear from them again. Some of the ones that made it back came with psychological problems. From what I heard they were dropped off in the middle of nowhere to take care of sheep, and they would have no human contact for long periods of time. Some say years! They remember just seeing airplanes fly by to drop them food. This guy that I talked to left with about 19 years of age and came back in his forties. He was pretty shaken and looked like a crazy person when he first arrived in Madrid by plane. Now a days he is ok, but needed some time for adaptation. It seems like a very interesting story that I want to follow up with him. If anyone has any information about Asturian sheepherds on the West Coast I would love to read about it.

Hi KC,

I wasn't aware of large clusters of Asturianos in the West....my understanding is that the sheepherders were almost exclusively Basque, not Asturiano....but I could be wrong......anyone else have any info about this??

Yes Tampeno, that was also what I thought until I talked to this guy. I know there was a good amount of Basques that went to Nevada and California. Long time ago I looked into that and found out a lot of information about it in the internet. It seems like someone mentioned earlier in this thread that they have left a cultural foot print in those areas. My surprise came like I said when I talked to this guy and later asked other people that told : yes so an so also went, and it seemed not to be such a unique story. That when my interest arouse and was hoping to get more information here. The story this man told me, which was short, was very compelling. If anyone is interested I will arrange another meeting with him an narate some of his story in this forum for others to read. It's the kind of stories I wish there was a book writen about them cause you could just read in one sitting.
Thanks for the help and best regards to all.

Hi, KC, that is a very interesting and sad story. By all means, I think it's worthwhile to record his story here. I'd certainly be interested in reading more about this person's work and life in the US. Have you thought about writing the book yourself?

--------------

Hola, KC, ésta es una historia muy interesante y triste. Por supuesto, pienso que vale la pena narrar su historia aquí. Seguramente yo estaría interesado en leer más sobre su trabajo y su vida en los E.E.U.U. ¿Has pensado en escribir el libro tú mismo?