Basque Sheepherders in Yosemite

The meadows at the bottom of Virginia Canyon were once a grazing destination for sheepherders in Yosemite’s high country.

NPS photo

The Birth of Sheepherding in California

After miners, merchants, and newspapers spread word about abundant gold in the Sierra Nevada in 1848, the population in California surged with fortune seekers. The economy burgeoned as new jobs arose across industries to support California’s many new residents. This growth brought a massive increase in the demand for food and clothing.

In the early days of the California Gold Rush, cattle ranching in Southern California was the primary livestock industry. After a severe drought from 1863 to 1864, cattle mortality devastated ranchers and left meat in short supply. In response, the sheepherding industry grew sharply, outpacing the cattle industry due to sheep’s superior tolerance of drought. In search of more water and forage, stockmen trailed their flocks north into the Sierra Nevada, including modern-day Yosemite National Park. Around the same time, the Civil War created a temporary increase in demand for wool, further bolstering the sheep industry.

With increasing demand for meat and textiles came an increasing need for more labor to tend the animals. The American open range sheepherding industry was born.

Basque Immigrants in the Yosemite Area

The Basques are an ethnic group whose homelands are the Pyrenees mountains in Europe, straddling northern Spain and southern France. Like many immigrants in the 19^th century, Basques came to the United States looking for economic opportunity. Some came from Basque Country in Europe, while others immigrated from Basque communities in the Argentinian Pampas, where sheepherding was also a common vocation in the 19^th century. Most herders who worked in the Yosemite area immigrated from Iparralde, the northern region of Basque Country within present-day France. Basques weren’t the only sheepherders who brought their flocks to graze in Yosemite. Portuguese, Chilean, Mexican, and Scottish immigrants also worked as sheepherders in the area.

Sheepherding required no initial investment and no knowledge of the English language, making it an appealing line of work for immigrants seeking economic mobility. Businessmen, often also Basque immigrants, typically owned the sheep and employed the herders who tended to flocks of up to one thousand ewes and lambs at a time. Owners and herders alike would often recruit their friends and family to join their herding enterprise, forging strong communities of Basque immigrants.

Basque communities across the American West often centered around Basque-owned boardinghouses which served as hubs of culture, community, and logistics. Usually run by Basque women, sheepherders relied on these establishments for practical concerns like storage space, help with setting up appointments, and a permanent mailing address as well as social needs like a place to speak their native language, play traditional games, and celebrate major life events. Sheepherders that spent summers in Yosemite’s mountains would have found the nearest Basque boardinghouses in Fresno and Bakersfield.

Herders were usually young, unmarried men who would endure several seasons of difficult working conditions with the goal of saving money. They would use their savings either to send back to their family in Europe, return to Europe themselves in better financial standing, or settle in the United States. Some entrepreneurial herders would take their wages in ewes, eventually working toward owning enough animals to establish their own flock and further grow their earning potential.

Far from an easy path to prosperity, the lifestyle of an open range sheepherder was extremely challenging.

 

This detailed tree carving, shown here in illustrated form, functioned as a trail junction marker near a well-used sheepherder camp along a creek in northern Yosemite high country. It is thought to have been carved by sheepherders. Tree core data suggests it was carved in approximately 1884.

The Lifestyle of an Open Range Sheepherder

In open range sheepherding, sometimes called tramp sheepherding, bands of sheep and their shepherd were nomadic, roaming through remote places to find forage for their flocks to graze. Sheepmen spent summers in the wilderness alone with only the company of their sheep and a herding dog. During this time in history, there were no laws restricting the grazing of stock on public land, nor was there any fee for doing so.

Sheepherders worked in incredibly remote, mountainous areas with many environmental dangers, from rattlesnake bites to severe weather to perilous terrain. Trails were minimal or nonexistent, and sheepherders instead had to rely on their animals and their own instincts to find safe passage to their next destination. If a herder became ill or injured, receiving medical care was extremely unlikely. With so many hazards, it’s no surprise that sometimes sheepherders died on the job.

Besides the physical challenges, the work was also psychologically strenuous. Open range sheepherders lived in remote areas for months at a time, camping with only basic supplies. Generally, their only contact with other humans during the summer herding season was a camp tender who brought supplies every two or three weeks.

While the idea of wilderness solitude tending to sheep may seem pastoral and romantic, the reality was that the psychological toll of severe isolation drove many herders to mental health crises. The Basque called this phenomenon becoming “sagebrushed” or “sheeped.” When workers became affected by the isolation, they often went to Basque-owned boardinghouses to convalesce.

 

Arborglyphs with initials and dates are common across historic sheepherder rangelands of the American West. Though partially grown over as shown in this illustration from remote northeastern Yosemite, this carving initially read “HKR Oct 6 1885”.

Sheepherding in the Yosemite High Country

Sheepherders in California generally spent winters in the Central Valley or the east side of the Sierra Nevada. As the weather warmed each year, they would migrate upslope into high elevation meadows and forests, a pattern called transhumance.

Tree carving evidence shows that sheepherders used many remote corners of the park, such as Spiller Canyon, Virginia Canyon, and Big Meadow Creek. Sheepherding in northern Yosemite was particularly common, but in drought years, herders even drove their sheep to the upper reaches of the Merced River watershed. Meadows were particularly appealing grazing destinations due to their abundant vegetation. In the summer of 1870, estimates suggest as many as 15,000 sheep grazed in Tuolumne Meadows.

Like many immigrants and minority groups, Basques were the target of xenophobia and racism. Basque sheepherders had little opportunity to practice English while isolated in the mountains. Because of this language barrier, they often spent more time in their own communities. The mystery and seclusion made sheepherders an easy target to malign as eccentric or even insane. In 1891, acting superintendent A. E. Wood noted that the sheepherders who worked in the area were “hated by the inhabitants of these regions with a hatred that surpasses belief.” Criticism also extended to the practice of sheepherding itself. Despite once working as a sheepherder himself, John Muir famously decried the impact of sheep in the high country by calling the sheep “hoofed locusts.”

Despite derision from outsiders and grueling working conditions, Basques developed a strong reputation as the archetypical sheepherders of the American West. The motivation of achieving economic mobility along with strong, supportive local Basque communities made sheepherding a viable vocation for decades.

Historic Arborglyphs

Open range sheepherders had virtually no supplies other than food, shelter, and basic tools. Most of the time, tending to their flocks required little less than being present with the animals. To combat the bleak combination of solitude and boredom, sheepherders filled their time carving trees, a practice that became both an art form and a means of communication. These historic carvings are known as arborglyphs.

During this era, people of many ethnicities and backgrounds carved arborglyphs. Early tourists sometimes created tree carvings during their travels. Trail builders used carved trees to mark new routes. Even Yosemite’s army soldiers left many arborglyphs while patrolling the park.

Almost all arborglyphs by sheepherders across the American West were carved into aspen trees. However, since Yosemite has very few aspens, most arborglyphs in Yosemite were carved in lodgepole pine trees instead.

The subject of sheepherder carvings varied considerably, including political statements, simple names and dates, religious iconography, complaints, explicit content, and even jokes. In many cases, the content and intent of carvings are not clear, perhaps known only to the creator themselves.

Sheepherders often had preferred locations to which they would return year after year. Some carved the years they grazed an area both to document their time there and to serve as an informal claim to reduce potential territory disputes with other herders.

Carving trees was a way to not only pass the time, but also to feel connected to other humans when social contact was so sparse. With a tree as their medium, the lonely sheepherder could make their presence feel real and remembered. Few formal records exist documenting the comings and goings of sheepherders across the Sierra Nevada. Instead, arborglyphs are often the only evidence of grazing activity in some areas.

The oldest known arborglyph in Yosemite was carved in 1875. In the 1980s and 90s, rangers meticulously documented hundreds of historic arborglyphs remaining in the Yosemite Wilderness. Many carvings, like initials or drawings, cannot be attributed to any specific nationality or person. There are very few carvings in Yosemite that can be positively confirmed as Basque-carved.

Undoubtedly, many carvings were never documented before the trees died or were destroyed. These marked trees may have never been seen by another set of human eyes before they disappeared.

Arborglyphs have passed into history in Yosemite in more ways than one. Since these carvings were created, laws and ethics around tree carvings have evolved considerably. Today, tree carving for any reason is prohibited. Defacing the park’s trees or other natural resources is illegal and punishable by a fine and jail time. Leave trees and other natural resources as you found them.

 

The purpose or intention of this tree carving, shown here in illustrated form, is unknown, though it is a particularly detailed carving. It was found in the upper reaches of the Merced River watershed.

The End of the Sheepherding Era in Yosemite

In 1890, Yosemite became a national park. Prior to this, only Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias were legally protected as nature preserves. The new national park covered 1,500 square miles, including Tuolumne Meadows and large swaths of Yosemite’s high country. With these new protections, grazing stock in these areas became illegal.

At that time, there was no central governing body for the parks because the National Park Service was not yet established. Instead, the park was protected by the United States Army, including the Buffalo Soldiers. Cavalrymen and mounted infantry patrolled the park, protecting against for poaching, trespassing, and other illegal activity. The army learned that sheepherders were still grazing their animals even after the practice became illegal. They began ousting the trespassers in 1892. The army pursued the sheepherders and their flocks throughout the high country, attempting to drive them out over remote mountain passes with mixed success. To disincentivize trespassing, the army developed a practice of escorting sheepherders out of one side of the park while sending their flock out a different side.

While many sheepherders were successfully ejected from the park, historic evidence suggests that park officials’ claims of the extent of this success were overstated. Sheepherders had a key advantage over the army: experience. Many had spent numerous summers in the area, learning the terrain, routes, and hidden spots. The soldiers, on the other hand, often were new to the area and unfamiliar with how to move through the mountainous land. Sheepherders also leveraged social networks to outmaneuver the army. Word of mouth, signal fires, and notes left on trees alerted fellow sheepmen in the area to army activity, helping each other evade penalties.

For years, tensions waged between the army and the elusive herders. In the absence of many written records, arborglyphs are sometimes the only remaining evidence of sheepherder activity in the park during this transitional period. By 1906, reports of sheep trespassing into Yosemite’s borders had diminished. Most Basque sheepmen dispersed across communities in the Great Basin, where open range sheepherding remained viable.

At the same time, cattle ranching was becoming entrenched in the intermountain west. Feuds between ranchers and sheepmen intensified in the early 20^th century. The Taylor Grazing Act of 1934 effectively put an end to the long-standing practice of open range sheepherding as well as imposed fees on public lands grazing for all stockmen. As cattle ranching became the predominant livestock industry in the American West, partially due to political maneuvering by the cattle industry, sheepherding receded to a niche vocation carried on mostly by Basques across the Great Basin. While the livestock industry has changed in many ways over the years, some Basques continue the tradition of raising sheep in the American West today.

The Legacy of Sheepherding

As our understanding of grazing has progressed, modern ecological evidence suggests that many landscapes across the Sierra Nevada, including Yosemite’s high-elevation meadows, were negatively impacted by grazing in the late 19^th century and into the early 20^th century. Today, grazing remains generally illegal in national parks. Other human factors, such as decades of fire suppression in the 20^th century and climate change, have further hampered meadow recovery. As attitudes and regulations have changed about land management, along with restoration projects, the ecological functions and natural beauty of these areas are returning.

Immigrant communities played a foundational role in shaping California’s economy in the 19^th and 20^th centuries. Over time, Basques gained a reputation as the preeminent sheepherders of the American West. Because of their willingness to endure difficult work and form strong communities, sheepmen met the basic needs of feeding and clothing a growing population during a pivotal time.

 

Bibliography

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This project was made possible in part by a grant from the National Park Foundation.