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Sheep Stories

A podcast series exploring the history and culture of sheepherding in the Wood River Valley, produced by the Community Library’s Jeanne Rodger Lane Center for Regional History in Ketchum, Idaho. Episodes use archival recordings and interviews from the Trailing of the Sheep Festival to tell the story of the Scottish, Basque, and Peruvian immigrants who have worked in the sheep industry for the past century. Join us and listen to their stories about traveling to Idaho, running from bears, and learning the language of the sheep.

Latest Episodes
  • The third and final episode of Sheep Stories, brought to you by the Community Library’s Jeanne Rodger Lane Center for Regional History in Ketchum, Idaho. In this episode, we hear from the Peruvian immigrant herders. Compared to the Basque and the Scottish, their history in Idaho is much more recent, but their stories sound very similar to those that came before.
  • The second episode of Sheep Stories, brought to you by the Community Library’s Jeanne Rodger Lane Center for Regional History in Ketchum, Idaho. We explore Basque immigrants, how they came to Idaho, and their experiences working with the sheep. The Basque Country, a small region of both Spain and France on the Bay of Biscay, is home to a distinct language, history, and culture – one that has also taken root here in Idaho’s Wood River Valley.
  • The first episode of Sheep Stories, brought to you by the Community Library’s Jeanne Rodger Lane Center for Regional History in Ketchum, Idaho. We’ll hear a little bit about how sheepherding works, some of the crazy stories from herders, of the early Scottish immigrants who started herding sheep in this area, and how the Trailing of the Sheep Festival got started.
  • This new podcast from the Community Library’s Jeanne Rodger Lane Center for Regional History in Ketchum takes you deep into the history and culture of an industry that shaped the region.