STEENS MOUNTAIN PACKERS
Arborglyph Profile-Claudio Iturriaga

Research, Photos and Text by: Carol Pedersen

"Claudio Iturriaga 12 July 1968"

Claudio resting beneath one of his carvings.  August 24, 2000

 

CLAUDIO ITURRIAGA was born in Ereno, Vizcaya, Spain on May 4, 1940.  He first arrived in Oregon in 1960 as a single man under a three-year contract with the McLean Ranches.  The next eight and one-half years were spent as a high desert open range sheep herder and camp tender on the Pueblo and Steens mountains.  Experiences with coyote predation, cold weather, tick fever, and miles of walking were constant concerns of the job but the independence and beautiful scenery were appealing.  He later married Maria Rementeria and became a United States citizen in Burns, Oregon.  The carvings were a way in which the sheep men could leave a legacy to those who came into the Aspen forests after them and were also a personal connection to the men who came before them.  Claudio's carvings show precise small uniform lettering completed with a light smooth stroke of his pocket knife which only cut into the thin outer white bark and did not damage the tree.