Louis Antoine Minaberriet of the Basque Ranch

Louis Antoine Minaberriet, 1890s

Louis Antoine Minaberriet was born in 1832 at Lecumberry in the Basque country of France. He left his home as a young man around 1849, destined for the California gold fields.  Instead of mining, he ranched in Oregon for more than a decade before heading north. By 1861, he had started the Basque ranch on the Thompson River between Spences Bridge and Ashcroft. It is one of the oldest ranches in the province.

Barn built on the Basque ranch by Louis Joseph Antoine Globe Minaberriet, circa 1860s-1890s. The ranch is still in operation today, 20 miles north of Spences Bridge on Highway 1

In 1867,  Louis Antoine married La’staa (a.k.a. Mary LaStair), from the local P’ukaist Band. With their only surviving child, Louis Joseph Antoine Globe Minaberriet, they lived at the Basque Ranch.

Globe’s grandson is Daryl Minnabarriet (several spellings of the family name exist), the only child of Louis Joseph “Joe” Minnabarriet and Florence Marie Lafleur, a Métis woman. He remains proud of his grandfather’s accomplishments at the Basque ranch and his Indigenous ancestry.

Enjoy this interview of Daryl Minnabarriet with a transcript. To view EN or FR subtitles, click on the gear wheel at bottom right of screen while the video is playing.

While no French was spoken in their household, Daryl learned the basics of the Nlaka’pamux language from his grandmother, Nancy Frances.

Life would soon change dramatically for this family, with Antoine establishing a European family, still at the Basque Ranch.

Nancy Frances, wife of Louis Joseph Antoine Globe Minaberriet, outside the 89 Ranch, holding a skin she has tanned herself, circa 1963

Deerskin moccasins made by Nancy Frances, of Nlaka’pamux and Nez Perce descent, wife of Louis Globe Antoine son of La’staa and Antoine. She often sold moccasins and gloves in the Spences Bridge store