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Life

Work Ethics

Basques in America, a legend that goes beyond the 'American Dream'

Igor Lansorena

eitb.com

'Basque' had become synonymous with 'Shepherd'. However, it also became associated with values of honesty and hard work that led to the Basques having a significant influence on US society.

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There are no longer any Basque shepherds in the US, or at least only very few. But the voice of their memories continues to be heard more than a hundred years after the first Basques left the ''Old Country'' to look for a better life in America.

Amerikanuak, a documentary that tells the tale of various Basque immigrants in Elko, Nevada, made its debut at the Donostia-San Sebastian International Film Festival last month. And it won''t be the last project to bring this subject back to life. Javi Zubizarreta, director of Artzainak, is already working on his next project, What Aitxitxe Said (What Grandfather Said), a fictional film that pays homage to his grandfather, a Basque migrant who left the Basque Country to work as a shepherd in Idaho.

Thousands followed Javi Zubizarreta''s grandfather''s example in a period dating from the end of the nineteenth century or even earlier, until the 1960s and 70s. But did they succeed? Did they achieve their ''American Dream''?

Although Basques have been heavily associated with shepherding, the first wave of Basque migration to the United States peaked following the discovery of gold in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountain range in Northern California. Many Basques arrived in California following the gold rush, though few succeeded and soon after took to shepherding to provide the mining camps with meat.

"The Altube brothers were the first ones to achieve the ''American dream," says Alberto Santana, a Basque academic expert at Basque culture. "They led 3,000 cows through Nevada to founded a ranch there, one of the biggest ranches ever in the US. They never came back to the Basque Country but word of their success spread back home and thousands of young lads followed their way," Alberto explains.

In Idaho, Juan Achaval, sometimes known as John Archabal, arrived in the United States at the age of 20 from a poor farmhouse in Ispaster, but after many years'' hard work he had a company that employed almost 90 Basques, even paying for their ticket from the Basque Country. "People like him forged the legend of the shepherd that became a millionaire working hard in America and brought thousands of people to the western states," Alberto says.

However, it was only during those first waves of immigration that the American dream was possible. " My feeling is that the fulfillment of the American Dream, the poor immigrant that becomes a millionaire through hard work, was only possible for the first wave of immigrants until 1925, when the country was still under construction. After that mainly the last wave of shepherds that came to the United States after the Second World War settled down happily but never amassed the fortunes of the past," says Alberto Santana.

From that moment onwards, Basques were heavily associated with shepherding, something that social scientists call "ethnic niches", an over-representation of workers from the same national, ethnic or religious origin in one single occupation. As Pedro J. Oiarzabal, a research scholar at the University of Deusto explains, "compared to other immigrants, the association between Basques and their primary occupation (i.e., herding) lasted for a very, very long time - between the end of the nineteenth century and the 1960s, 1970s."

"It is said that by 1910, Basques controlled two-thirds of the sheep business in the American West. That is to say, at the time when the term "Basque" became synonymous with shepherding," Oiarzabal explains.

Work Ethic

Nevertheless, although there were not many more cases of the American Dream among Basques, these forged a legend of what the Americans call "work ethics", a set of values based on hard work, honesty and diligence, that has helped members of the second generation of Basques in America get to positions of greater responsibility.

"Businessmen, bankers, politicians with Basque surnames; all of these were born in America and their success was in part thanks to the work ethics learnt from their parents. These values of hard work and honesty were in tune with the classic values of the American Dream and many Basque-Americans succeeded in gaining access to the upper classes of society and are, nowadays, an example to all the members of the Basque community," Alberto Santana says.

Dave Boling, author of ''Gernika'', has an extensive knowledge of the Basques and totally agrees. "They worked so hard that many have become very successful businessmen here in Boise. Another of the reasons is that they are so well respected. When they give their word, people know it is as good as gold; you can do business with these people and they are going to be honest with you. And that is a value that is sometimes rare in American business."

Pete Cenarrusa, former Secretary of State for Idaho and son of a Basque shepherd, embodies all those values and is another of those many sons and daughters of Basque immigrants that made a living in the sheep business. "Basques proved themselves to be excellent shepherds because of their inherent capacity for hard work, honesty, trustworthiness, dependability and high competitiveness in their pursuits," Pete says.

"I do believe that those who followed their parents after their earlier shepherding days, and became bankers, lawyers, lawmakers, politicians, teachers and doctors blended into the American society and carried with them the high qualities of their parents," Pete adds.

Just as it had become synonymous with shepherding, the word "Basque" also became equated with "honesty" Pete Cenarrusa tells us, remembering an old story. "I became acquainted with a second generation Basque from Mountain Home, Idaho. He told me that he had the misfortune of his auto breaking down in Salt Lake City, Utah - he needed to cash a check at a bank in that city for money to pay for the expense. The banker recognized his name as Basque and asked if he was a Basque. Mr. Solozabal said yes, he was. The banker immediately furnished the money for the amount of the check."

All throughout Basque history

These personality traits can not only be found in Basque shepherds but in all Basques and all throughout their history. "I think the hard work, tenacity, ingenuity, and loyalty that enabled the Basques to integrate and succeed when they first arrived in America are the same values propelling them into leadership roles today. Ask a non-Basque to describe a Basque and they will likely describe some of these qualities," says Christine Bender, a US writer of Basque heritage who has published three novels about Basque sailors.

"Basques are prized as employees as well as employers because they vigorously fight to meet the goals set before them. Such traits can be traced far, far back in our history. Consider the ancient whalers and the early explorers, and what determination it took to meet the challenges of their existences. Their legacy lives on today," adds Christine.

Nor does it surprise Guillermo Zubiaga that Basques and their experience in America has led them to be considered as trustworthy, precisely because of their values of hard work and honesty. For Guillermo, a Basque graphic artist living in New York, what is most remarkable is how a fairly humble number of immigrants has been able to affect the fabric of American society in such a way, while perfectly adjusting themselves to its way of life.

"Doing so at the same time as maintaining "the old country " traditions is ultimately the identifying factor of the Basques" says Guillermo, who is living his own American Dream and has recently published a comic book about Basque whalers. "After all, this is a land of opportunity and quite frankly I am infinitely thankful as I have already gotten a taste of what that means," he adds.

For Amaya Oxarango-Ingram, a Boisean of Basque heritage who is shooting a documentary about Basque culture in contemporary America, it was time for the Basques to start this new chapter. "The truth is, Basque culture here in the States is different than it was 30 years ago. I want to try and dispel this notion that we''re all a bunch of sheepherders. It''s part of our history here in the US, but we have started another chapter…We''re lawyers, doctors, financiers, filmmakers…who also care about continuing certain traditions from the old country," she says.

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