Basque Sheep Camp

Basque Sheep Camp. . Basque immigrants from the Pyrenees mountains of France and Spain were drawn to California by the Gold Rush. They found providing the miners with lamb and wool more profitable than digging for gold. , Young Basque men would follow their sheep bands into the Sierras for summer grazing using pack mules to carry their needed supplies., When the sheep reached the meadows of the Eastern Sierra, tents were used for shelter, usually erected in aspen groves. Sometimes, a stone oven was built for baking bread. A camp tender brought supplies for the herder every three to eight days. Later, wooden wagons provided more protection from the weather than tents and were in use until the 1960’s when used travel trailers took their place., For the thousands of young Basque immigrants, work in the sheep camps of California was a rite of passage and the entry point into their new country. The work was difficult, sometimes dangerous, and very lonely. Yet, many old timers would say, it was the best time of their lives., Camp trailer donated by Jim and Julie Etcheverrey and Hay Brothers Sheep Company. Restored by Mark Parsons.