"You've got to be good at something in this world," Dan Archabal remembers his father saying. John Archabal followed his own advice. In a rags-to-riches story, Archabal survived the sinking of his ship on the way to America, and by the time of his death in 1945 he had become one of the most prominent sheepmen in the West. His hard work, ability, wise choices, and good fortune made him a model of the Basque-American immigrant success story. In the process, he established himself as one of the leaders of the Basque community in Idaho while being accepted by the broader American community. As is true with most relatively obscure immigrants, John Archabal and his early years are not easy to trace, but his story provides insight into the forces that shaped the lives of early Basque newcomers to the Pacific Northwest.