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201 8 Latinos in Idaho Making Their Way in the Gem State Errol D. Jones I dahoans are keenly aware that the Latino population in their state has increased dramatically over the past quarter century.1 The 2010 U.S. Census counted 175,901 who claimed Latino heritage out of a state total of 1,567,582, or 11.2 percent. Most of that growth is attributed to immigration. Latinos are the state’s largest minority. It is also presumed that more than 25,000 undocumented immigrants, mostly Mexicans or other Latin Americans, live in the Gem State. For the past thirty years, Latino immigration to Idaho has mirrored national trends. The 1980 U.S. Census recorded 36,560 Latinos in a total Idaho population of 944,000. Of these Idaho “Hispanics,” 80 percent or more were Mexicans or of Mexican descent. In the 1980s, the Latino population grew to almost 53,000, an impressive increase of 16,367, or about 5.3 percent of the state’s total of 1,004,000. Despite a significant numerical increase, Latinos still constituted a small percentage of the total population. But from 1990 to 2000, their numbers almost doubled, from a little less than 53,000 to 102,901, an astonishing increase of 95 percent, or 8 percent of the total population of 1,293,953.2 In the past quarter century, at least until 2008, Idaho experienced phenomenal economic growth and with it great population increase. Since the 2000 census, the overall population expanded by 21.1 percent, putting Idaho in a similar category as its neighboring states: Utah, 24 percent; Washington , 14.1 percent; Oregon 12 percent; and Nevada, 32 percent. In all of these states, the Latino population increased, contributing significantly to rapid overall population and economic growth. Latinos in each of the above states 202Errol D. Jones in 2011 constituted 11 percent or more of the population total, with Nevada reaching almost 25 percent.3 Idaho and surrounding states historically have been racially homogeneous but always counted on cultural and racial minority groups like Chinese, Greeks, Italians, and Latinos to labor in their fields, toil in the mines, harvest timber, build railroads, and contribute to the economic development of the region, as described by Laurie Mercier in chapter 7 in this volume. This chapter presents a saga still in the making of a people who, like other identifiable minorities, have had to struggle to overcome adversity, discrimination, and racism. Early Latino presence Mexicans and Mexican Americans have been in Idaho at least since the 1860s, if not earlier, and played a role in the state’s development. Seldom recognized, they made significant contributions to the state’s economy, culture, and history. With the news in 1860 that gold had been discovered, Mexicans and thousands of other fortune seekers rushed to Idaho Territory . Some were experienced miners from the Mexican state of Sonora who, along with Chileans and Peruvians, flocked first to California in the late 1840s and 1850s and then to Idaho. Introducing mining technology adopted by other miners regardless of their origin, Mexican miners in 1863 used arrastras in Spanish Town near Rocky Bar. Large, heavy stone wheels dragged by horses or mules around a circular pit lined with smooth rocks, arrastras crushed softer quartz placed beneath them. These devices were used widely throughout the area.4 The 1870 territorial census found sixty Latinos living in Idaho, most of Mexican descent. A small group numerically, they nevertheless played an important economic role, bringing with them Mexican traditions of handling horses and livestock. Some worked as mule packers, ranchers, and cowboys, while others were miners and laborers. A few landed in Idaho Territory as soldiers in the U.S. Army. Counted in the early census, they also appeared in occasional newspaper stories. Soon, those who stayed, like Jesús Urquides and Manuel Fontes, became solid members of Idaho’s pioneer communities. Spanish words, along with Mexican techniques and equipment, informed the cowboy and ranching cultures of southwestern Latinos in Idaho 203 Idaho, eastern Oregon, and northern Nevada. Their influence continues to this day.5 On rare occasions, Idaho’s early territorial history yields a glimpse of a richer more diverse culture, like the glint of gold in a rocky stream, than standard accounts portray. Mexican vaqueros broke horses and herded cattle on isolated ranches in southwestern Idaho and eastern Oregon. Some succeeded in buying spreads of their own. Skilled Mexican muleteers (arrieros ) packed supplies over dangerous trails...

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