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S2: The Land That Made the Industry

The first episode explores historical accounts to learn about the land that sustains the industry, even today. The Wood River Valley has an extraordinary landscape that allows for sheep ranching to be successful, and is directly due to the mountains, prairies, forests, rivers and lakes that create such an expansive area for migration, particularly in the spring and fall. The landscape agrees, not only with the sheep, but with the herding industry as a whole.

Sheep Stories is a podcast from Boise State Public Radio made in partnership with the Trailing of the Sheep Festival and The Community Library's Jeanne Rodger Lane Center for Regional History in Ketchum. Evelyn Laila Holden is The Patricia Crandall Lane Trailing of the Sheep Festival Archives Summer Intern for 2026. "The Savvy Traveler" audio used in this episode is with permission of Minnesota Public Radio. All rights reserved. Additional recordings in this podcast were made by the Idaho Commission on the Arts. Music in this episode comes from Hal Canon and Leonard Coulson as part of the Deseret String Band.

A transcript of this episode is available.

I was born and raised in Seattle, Washington, and moved to Denver, Colorado, for university. I graduated with a dual degree in Anthropology and History from the University of Denver in Spring of 2025. A few months later, I moved to Ketchum, Idaho and in 2026, I became the Patricia Crandall Lane Trailing of the Sheep Festival Archive Intern, where I produced Season 2 of the podcast Sheep Stories.

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