Louis Antoine Minaberriet

Louis Antoine Minaberriet is considered the first Basque in BC, arriving around 1858, looking for gold in the Thompson valley.

Some two years later, Louis Antoine returned to his ranch in Oregon, sold everything and came back to BC with his cattle. On that trip, when his wagon wheel broke down a second time, he claimed the site and established the Basque ranch. His partners were the Baron brothers (Jean, Fermin and Gratien), François St. Paul, Jean Amparient and Dominique Gorgie, presumably all Frenchmen, whom he bought out later. This is thus one of the oldest ranches in the province.

Louis Antoine built a type of dam on the Thompson river on his ranch, from which he charged gold panners a part of their take at the site, which amounted to a value greater than that of the ranch itself. Antoine was thus a rich man when he returned to France. Still, the rumours that abound in BC of Louis Antoine having been a Count have been disproved.

Louis Antoine and his son Louis Joseph Antoine Globe were also able to pan out an important quantity of gold from Oregon Jack Creek on his property. The First Nations of the area called any French speaker “Jack”, from the French song “Frère Jacques”. Since Louis Antoine had arrived from Oregon, the name “Oregon Jack” stuck.

The claim to fame of Basque, BC, the whistle-stop station near the ranch, is at the site of the 1915 last spike for the Canadian Northern Pacific Railway (later the Canadian National Railway – CNR).