 He moved to the United States in 1897 and within twenty years he had a herd of over 100,000 sheep in southern Idaho.His motivation and ambition was seen through his many different roles as a local Basque "king" or "father" in Mountain Home, Idaho, serving as the Vice-President of the Mountain Home Bank and the owner of the finest hotel in the western United States at that time, The Bengoechea Hotel.Jose was born in 1860 in the house of Zaracondegui in Bedarona, Spain.