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Boyhood among the Woolies

Growing Up on a Basque Sheep Ranch

Richard W. Etulain

$19.95

A sheepherder’s son delivers a rare look at life on an early eastern Washington sheep ranch, recounting endless chores, lambing season, sheep shearing, and fighting dangerous grass fires. He also describes family activities and shenanigans, relationships with hired staff, favorite dogs, schooling and church in Ritzville, Basque history, and more.

“Richard W. Etulain’s appealing new memoir, Boyhood Among the Woolies, provides an entirely different perspective from the dry side of the Cascade Mountains…A gem of a book.”—Barbara Lloyd McMichael, Coast Weekend

Illustrations / 6″ x 9″ / 166 pages / ISBN 978-1-63864-007-3 (2023)

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Description

Like many Pacific Northwest sheep herders, Sebastian Etulain emigrated from Europe’s Basque country. He arrived in Yakima in May of 1921, convinced that hard work could overcome a lack of formal education and other shortcomings. It became his doctrine, and he advanced to ranch owner before marrying Mary Gillard Foster.

The Etulain sheep ranch lay among rock ridges, carved out coulees, rounded hills, and rich grasslands twenty miles east of Ritzville and almost seventy miles south of Spokane. Isolated and sprawling across nearly ten thousand acres, it included a sturdy ranch house surrounded by hay barns, a water pump house, corrals, and pens for sheep, goats, dogs, and pigs. The spread also had a milking parlor and creamery, as well as a blacksmith shop.

The Etulains adopted seasonal rhythms. For about one third of the year, their own abundant pasture grasses provided sufficient fodder. In the summer they moved most of their animals up to mountains around St. Maries, Idaho, to feast on rich grasses there. But from November to March the sheep and cattle needed purchased feed, and plenty of it.

Growing up on a sheep ranch afforded Sebastian’s boys a magical upbringing with magnificent memories—despite the demanding work. In Boyhood Among the Woolies, his youngest son, Richard, reveals the family’s story, a rare look at life on an early eastern Washington sheep ranch. He recounts endless chores related to supplying feed and water, lambing season, sheep shearing, keeping animals safe, and fighting one of the largest dangers—grass fires. He also describes family activities, relationships with hired staff, favorite dogs, brotherly pranks and shenanigans, schooling and church in Ritzville, Basque history, and more.

Glowing reminiscences aside, author Richard W. Etulain never fell in love with ranching. He became a town and city dude, an award-winning historian who specializes in the history of the American West. He has given more than two hundred presentations on western and United States historical, literary, and cultural topics. He is the author or editor of over sixty volumes, and his books and essays have won several major prizes. Recent titles include Thunder in the West: The Life and Legends of Billy the Kid, and Abraham Lincoln: A Western Legacy.

Illustrations / 6″ x 9″ / 166 pages / ISBN 978-1-63864-007-3 (2023)

Read The Bookmonger review

 

Recognition

“Richard W. Etulain’s appealing new memoir, Boyhood Among the Woolies, provides an entirely different perspective from the dry side of the Cascade Mountains…[The book] shares perspectives on how the American dream has been differently embraced from one generation to the next. Etulain…has written a gem of a book.”—Barbara Lloyd McMichael, Coast Weekend

Boyhood Among the Woolies is a great read because it describes a first-person view of a sheepherding ranch of a bygone era…it is an important book, giving the reader a good understanding of the challenges and the good times involved in rural life in the American West during the earlier twentieth century.”—Oregon Arts Watch

“Richard Etulain’s account of remarkable, dedicated people who hewed out a living in a rugged and wild land and of the impact those men and women had on generations that followed is a gem. It has been a long time since either of us bucked bales, built forts in haystacks, or stretched and anchored mile after mile of fence, but in Dick’s book those experiences come to life—with humor, enthusiasm, and passion. You will find a remarkable story, well told, in Boyhood among the Woolies. A fine read.”—Alex McGregor, McGregor Land and Livestock, Pacific Northwest Quarterly

“A fascinating life story that is as inherently interesting as it is impressively informative as to what growing up on an American sheep ranch was like. Illustrated with black/white historical photographs, Boyhood Among the Woolies: Growing Up on a Basque Sheep Ranch is unique and especially recommended addition to personal reading lists, as well as community and academic library American Biography/Memoir collections.”—Midwest Book Review

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Paperback