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It is a book that, for years, was the only reference for anyone wishing to learn more about the Basque sheepherders in the United States, and Basque immigration to this country in the first half of the 20th century. Written by tather Afrien Gachiteguy, Les Basques dans l’ouest américain was the fruit of a trip and stay touring the “Basque West” from May to December of 1951.  It was published in 1955 and has been out of print for many years, but has now been reprinted by Iru Errege Basque publisher in Baiona. 

Baiona, Lapurdi.   It has been 62 years since Aldude born Benedictine Adrien Gachiteguy published Les Basques dans l’ouest américain (Basques in the American West.)  The author, who is now 92 years old, lives at the Benedictine Monastery in Belloc (Beloke in Basque), a place that has deep connections with the Diaspora and immigration, specifically, for example, with Oklahoma and California in the US, or in Victoria in Entre Rios, Argentina.  Both areas welcomed several generations of Basque priests and monks, as well as nuns who all experienced immigration for themselves; and connected at some point, in the case of Oklahoma, with their contemporaries, Basque sheepherders in the West, or in the case of Entre Rios, in Victoria, were linked to a city whose patron saint is the Virgin of Arantzazu, founded in the 19^th century by the Basque Joaquin Salvador Ezpeleta, that also welcomed several waves of Basque churchmen in the 20^th century.

Like many in his surroundings, Adrien Gachiteguy was born and raised, conditioned by the migratory fact, with his own father having lived in the American West for 18 years.  In fact, Aldude and its valley, is one of the areas in Euskal Herria with a larger number of natives and descendants in the Diaspora than in the original valley itself.  Adrien Gachiteguy traveled to the Unites States and spent May to December 1951, touring places where Basques migrated, especially those from Iparralde and Nafarroa on both sides of the Pyrenees.

Documenting Basque Emigration

Gachiteguy’s book tells the story and gathers testimonies from the Basque world in the US, from this geography that during this time was of immigration, but today is of people who have settled and established roots in each of the places, creating the Basque-American reality.  In fact, Gachiteguy put together the story of the parents and grandparents of the Basque Americans who today are part of and run NABO and the US Basque clubs.  There are also recordings done at the same time by Patxi Aldasoro from Mutiloa, Gipuzkoa who was the Basque chaplain in Idaho in the 50s.  Another of these priests was Aita Santos Rekalde, who did interviews with Basques in Idaho in 1968-69, and wrote a book Deunor, Euskal artzaiak Ipar-Ameriketan, published in 1973 by Kulixka Sorta.  Later, in 1994, Joseba Etxarri published Euskaldunen Amerika, Bidaia bat Estatu Batuetan zehar a work that some qualify as the renovation, forty years after Gachiteguy’s book.  All of these document and bear witness to the Basque presence in the United States.

62 years after its first edition, the Iru Errege publishers in Baiona, directed by Patrick Delprat, has printed a second edition of this classic that had been out of print for so many years.  Les Basques dans l’ouest américain has 200 pages and costs 15 Euros.