Iker Saitua is a Basque Government Postdoctoral Fellow in History at the University of California, Riverside and the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU). He is a native of the Basque Country and a historian of the Basque Country and the United States.

• Note for Users ixIntroduction: The Basque Frontier of the American West 1Part I: After the Sheep Rush1. The Promises of the Silver State: The Development of the Sheep Industry in Nevada, 1850–1900 292. Becoming Herders: Basque Immigration, Labor, and Settlement in Nevada, 1880–1910 54Part II: The Struggle for Legitimacy3. Encroaching Upon Forbidden Ground: Basque Immigrant Sheepherders and the Creation of National Forests in Nevada 834. “Desirable Immigrants”: Socio-Economic Ambivalence and Basque Labor in Nevada’s Sheep Industry, 1910–1939 111Part III: The Making of a Good Sheepherder5. “Grasping at a Straw”: The Basque Labor Shortage in the Nevada and Western Sheep Industry during the Second World War 1516. The Indispensable Basque Sheepherder: Senator Patrick McCarran and the Sheep Lobby, the Exclusion of Mexicans, and the Recruitment of Basque Immigrants in the Western Sheep Industry during WWII 1797. The Basque Immigrant Sheepherder Question and U.S.-Spanish Relations during the early Cold War, 1945–1954 215Acknowledgments 265Bibliography 267About the Author 287Index 289

"This is a story that is simultaneously transnational and intensely local. Historians of the American West are deeply indebted to this fine young historian."— Steven M. Avella, professor of history, Marquette University, Milwaukee"Iker Saiatua provides a fresh perspective on the story of Basque migration to the American West.  His painstaking research uncovers new source material and applies current race and labor historiography, while personal anecdotes tie it all together."— John Bieter, author of An Enduring Legacy: The Story of Basques in Idaho

Iker Saitua is a Basque Government Postdoctoral Fellow in History at the University of California, Riverside and the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU). He is a native of the Basque Country and a historian of the Basque Country and the United States.

• Note for Users ixIntroduction: The Basque Frontier of the American West 1Part I: After the Sheep Rush1. The Promises of the Silver State: The Development of the Sheep Industry in Nevada, 1850–1900 292. Becoming Herders: Basque Immigration, Labor, and Settlement in Nevada, 1880–1910 54Part II: The Struggle for Legitimacy3. Encroaching Upon Forbidden Ground: Basque Immigrant Sheepherders and the Creation of National Forests in Nevada 834. “Desirable Immigrants”: Socio-Economic Ambivalence and Basque Labor in Nevada’s Sheep Industry, 1910–1939 111Part III: The Making of a Good Sheepherder5. “Grasping at a Straw”: The Basque Labor Shortage in the Nevada and Western Sheep Industry during the Second World War 1516. The Indispensable Basque Sheepherder: Senator Patrick McCarran and the Sheep Lobby, the Exclusion of Mexicans, and the Recruitment of Basque Immigrants in the Western Sheep Industry during WWII 1797. The Basque Immigrant Sheepherder Question and U.S.-Spanish Relations during the early Cold War, 1945–1954 215Acknowledgments 265Bibliography 267About the Author 287Index 289

"This is a story that is simultaneously transnational and intensely local. Historians of the American West are deeply indebted to this fine young historian."— Steven M. Avella, professor of history, Marquette University, Milwaukee"Iker Saiatua provides a fresh perspective on the story of Basque migration to the American West.  His painstaking research uncovers new source material and applies current race and labor historiography, while personal anecdotes tie it all together."— John Bieter, author of An Enduring Legacy: The Story of Basques in Idaho

Iker Saitua is a Basque Government Postdoctoral Fellow in History at the University of California, Riverside and the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU). He is a native of the Basque Country and a historian of the Basque Country and the United States.

• Note for Users ixIntroduction: The Basque Frontier of the American West 1Part I: After the Sheep Rush1. The Promises of the Silver State: The Development of the Sheep Industry in Nevada, 1850–1900 292. Becoming Herders: Basque Immigration, Labor, and Settlement in Nevada, 1880–1910 54Part II: The Struggle for Legitimacy3. Encroaching Upon Forbidden Ground: Basque Immigrant Sheepherders and the Creation of National Forests in Nevada 834. “Desirable Immigrants”: Socio-Economic Ambivalence and Basque Labor in Nevada’s Sheep Industry, 1910–1939 111Part III: The Making of a Good Sheepherder5. “Grasping at a Straw”: The Basque Labor Shortage in the Nevada and Western Sheep Industry during the Second World War 1516. The Indispensable Basque Sheepherder: Senator Patrick McCarran and the Sheep Lobby, the Exclusion of Mexicans, and the Recruitment of Basque Immigrants in the Western Sheep Industry during WWII 1797. The Basque Immigrant Sheepherder Question and U.S.-Spanish Relations during the early Cold War, 1945–1954 215Acknowledgments 265Bibliography 267About the Author 287Index 289

"This is a story that is simultaneously transnational and intensely local. Historians of the American West are deeply indebted to this fine young historian."— Steven M. Avella, professor of history, Marquette University, Milwaukee"Iker Saiatua provides a fresh perspective on the story of Basque migration to the American West.  His painstaking research uncovers new source material and applies current race and labor historiography, while personal anecdotes tie it all together."— John Bieter, author of An Enduring Legacy: The Story of Basques in Idaho