Jesús Urquides family collection

Jesús Urquides was likely born in Sonora, Mexico, on January 18, 1833. He became a naturalized American citizen in 1860. In 1850, at age 17, he began a pack-train operation in California serving miners part of the Gold Rush, gradually expanding to a six-state area. He carried food, clothing, and other supplies to mining operations large and small throughout the western United States. Urquides packed food and camp supplies to people in southern and central Idaho, including Idaho Basques.

Urquides settled in Boise in the late 1860s. He returned to California in 1878 to marry Adelaida Carreras. Together they had two children, Lola and Manuel. The family home was built at 115 Main Street (between 1st and 2nd Streets), on land that Urquides had inherited from friend Antonio de Ocampo, which was initially purchased in 1873. Later, stables and a corral for his dozens of pack mules, as well as a storehouse for merchandise, were constructed which served as a logistical base to transport goods to isolated areas throughout Idaho.

Urquides built approximately 30 small one-room buildings for use by his employees, mostly Mexican-born at the time. This became known as Urquides' Spanish Village, or as Urquides referred to it, as his "little world." After Urquides’ death in 1928, his daughter Lola continued renting out the cabins and giving tours, but after her death in 1965, the buildings in the village fell into disrepair and were demolished by the city in 1972. Urquides, along with most of his family, are buried in Pioneer Cemetery in Boise.

Modified from writings at the Idaho State Historical Society and the City of Boise Pioneer Cemetery Walking Tour webpage and the City of Boise Department of Arts and History website.