| Owyhee River | |
|---|---|
 The Owyhee River | |
 Map of the Owyhee River watershed | |
| Location | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Nevada, Idaho, Oregon |
| City | Rome, Oregon |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Source | NearWild Horse |
| • location | Elko County, Nevada |
| • coordinates | 41°30′17″N115°44′30″W / 41.50472°N 115.74167°W /41.50472; -115.74167[1] |
| • elevation | 6,860 ft (2,090 m) |
| Mouth | Snake River |
• location | Canyon County, Idaho/Malheur County, Oregon |
• coordinates | 43°48′46″N117°01′32″W / 43.81278°N 117.02556°W /43.81278; -117.02556[1] |
• elevation | 2,185 ft (666 m)[1] |
| Length | 280 mi (450 km)[2] |
| Basin size | 11,049 sq mi (28,620 km2) |
| Discharge | |
| • location | Owyhee, OR, 1 mi (1.6 km) from the mouth[3] |
| • average | 1,146 cu ft/s (32.5 m3/s)[3] |
| • minimum | 3.2 cu ft/s (0.091 m3/s) |
| • maximum | 29,000 cu ft/s (820 m3/s) |
| Type | Wild |
| Designated | March 30, 2009 |
TheOwyhee River is a tributary of theSnake River located in northern Nevada, southwestern Idaho and southeastern Oregon in the Western United States and itsPacific Northwest region. It is 280 miles (450 km) long.[2][4]The river'sdrainage basin is 11,049 square miles (28,620 km2) in area, one of the largest subbasins of theColumbia River Basin with its major waterways of theColumbia River andSnake River.[5] The mean annualdischarge is 995 cubic feet per second (28.2 m3/s), with a maximum of 50,000 cu ft/s (1,400 m3/s) recorded in 1993 and a minimum of 42 cu ft/s (1.2 m3/s) in 1954.[6]
The Owyhee drains a remote area of the aridplateau region immediately north of theGreat Basin of Central Nevada, rising in northeastern Nevada and flowing generally northward near the north-south Oregon / Idaho border to the Snake River. Its watershed is very sparsely populated. The Owyhee River and its tributaries flow through the Owyhee Plateau, cutting deep canyons, often with vertical walls and in some places over 1,000 feet (300 m) deep.[6]
The watershed of the river was part of region inhabited by theShoshone andBannock indigenous Native Americans /Indians. The name of the river is from the older spelling of "Hawaii".[7] It was named for threeNative Hawaiian trappers (from the then little-known far-offHawaiian Islands chain in the middle of the Pacific Ocean). They were in the employ of the oldNorth West Company (1779–1821). The North West Company was headquartered north of theGreat Lakes and along theSt. Lawrence River atMontreal, Quebec (then the province ofLower Canada inBritish North America, today is the modernDominion of Canada), who were sent to explore the uncharted river in theRocky Mountains wilderness of thePacific Northwest region and far western North America continent. They failed to return to the rendezvous camp near theBoise River and were never seen again. Due to this the river and its region were subsequently named "Owyhee".[6]
About one-third of the men withDonald MacKenzie's Snake Country Expeditions of 1819–1820 were Hawaiians, commonly called "Kanakas" or "Sandwich Islanders" in those days, with "Owyhee" being a standard period spelling of the properHawaiian language name for the islands,hawai'i, which then was otherwise unused in English. The three Kanakas were detached to trap on the river in 1819 and were probably killed by Native Americans that year. It was not until the spring or early summer of 1820 that MacKenzie learned the news of their deaths (probably at the hands of men belonging to a band of Bannocks led by a chief named The Horse). Native Americans led other trappers to the site, but only one skeleton was located. The earliest surviving record of the name is found on a map dating to 1825, drawn by William Kittson (who was previously with MacKenzie in 1819–1820, and then withPeter Skene Ogden (1790–1854), in 1825), on which he notes "Owhyhee River" (his spelling). Journal entries in 1826 by Peter Skene Ogden, a fur trapper who led subsequent Snake Country Expeditions for theHudson's Bay Company refer to the river primarily as the "Sandwich Island River", but also as "S. I. River", "River Owyhee", and "Owyhee River".[8]
The discovery of gold and silver deposits in the region in 1863 resulted in a usual "rush" of a temporary influx of prospectors / miners and the establishment of mining camps and ramshackle towns, most of which have long since decayed into ruins or disappeared. The initial discovery was alongJordan Creek, and mining activity rapidly spread through the Owyhee watershed in the 1860s. This activity involved not only placer operations, but also the digging of underground mine shafts and mills, resulting in a prolonged history of 19th century mining in the region.[6]
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On May 16, 1866, the IndianLemhi Shoshone-French son ofSacagawea,Jean Baptiste Charbonneau (1805–1866), died on May 16, 1866,[9] at age 61 years old, nearJordan Creek / Owyhee River and Jordan Valley. He died after catching a "chill" or pneumonia upon crossing the Owyhee River en route from California to new gold field strikes in the oldMontana Territory near theOwyhee River and Jordan Creek.[10]
After almost a century of neglect, his grave is now well-marked, off the highway ofU.S. Route 95 (seeU.S. Route 95 in Oregon), nearDanner, Oregon at42°57′07.1″N117°20′21.4″W / 42.951972°N 117.339278°W /42.951972; -117.339278 (Jean Baptiste Charbonneau gravesite), atJordan Valley.[11]
The source of the Owyhee River is in northeastern Nevada, in northernElko County, approximately 50 miles (80 km) north of thecounty seat / town ofElko. It flows north along the east side of theIndependence Mountains of Nevada, passing throughWild Horse Reservoir and then cutting northeast past the north end of the range. The river runs through theHumboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, and then past the communities ofMountain City andOwyhee in theDuck Valley Indian Reservation of Nevada. It then enters southwestern Idaho, flowing northwest for approximately 50 miles (80 km) across the southwest corner of the state throughOwyhee County. It is then joined by the South Fork Owyhee River from the south, approximately 10 miles (16 km) east of the Oregon border. The main tributary of the South Fork is theLittle Owyhee River.[12]
The Owyhee River then enters extreme southeast corner of Oregon in southernMalheur County, generally flowing north in a zigzag course west of the north-south Oregon / Idaho state border. It merges with theWest Little Owyhee River[13] from the south, then receives the Middle Fork Owyhee River[14] andNorth Fork Owyhee River[15] from the east at a location known as "Three Forks." It then passes through the Owyhee Canyon betweenBig Grassy Mountain andWhitehouse Butte, then turns north, flowing east ofBurns Junction and then west ofMahogany Mountain. In this area the Owyhee River receives the tributaries of Jordan Creek, Rattlesnake Creek, and Crooked Creek.
The Owyhee River enters the Snake River from the west on the Oregon–Idaho border approximately 5 miles (8 km) south ofNyssa, Oregon, and 2 miles (3 km) south of the mouth of theBoise River. The final stretch of the river, below Owyhee Dam, emerges from the Owyhee Plateau and enters theSnake River Plain.
In northern Malheur County, approximately 20 miles (32 km) upstream from its mouth on the Snake, the Owyhee River is impounded by theOwyhee Dam, creating the serpentineLake Owyhee, approximately 52 miles (84 km) long. The dam was constructed by theU.S. Bureau of Reclamation (part of theUnited States Department of the Interior), primarily to provideirrigation for the agricultural region in southeast Oregon and southwest Idaho, onions and hops are the staple crops in this region.Lake Owyhee State Park and scenicLeslie Gulch are along the eastern shore of the reservoir.Owyhee Dam was built in 1933 and eliminatedanadromous fish such as spawningsalmon from the Owyhee River basin.[6]
In 1984, theUnited States Congress designated 120 miles (190 km) of the river asOwyhee Wild and Scenic River under theWild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1968 to preserve the river in its free-flowing condition. Part of the designation includes the section of the river downstream from the Owyhee Dam, where the river flows through a remote section of deeply incised canyons surrounded by high canyon rims that are habitat formountain lion,bobcat,mule deer, Californiabighorn sheep, and a large variety ofraptors.
TheOmnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 designated 323,274 acres (130,824 ha) on and around the Owyhee River in Idaho as wilderness.[16] The bill was signed into law by 44th PresidentBarack Obama, two months after his inauguration on March 30, 2009.[17] The new wilderness areas are:
The twoUnited States Senators representing Oregon in theU.S. Senate (upper chamber of theCongress) at theUnited States Capitol in the federal national capital city of far to the east of Washington, D.C.,Ron Wyden andJeff Merkley (bothDemocrats), introduced the Owyhee Act in November 2019. It would preserve 1 million acres (400 thousand hectares) of Owyhee canyonlands as wilderness, while calling for improvements to loop roads to bring in visitors. It also designated 14.7 miles (23.7 km) of the river for protection under theWild and Scenic Rivers Act. It was supported by both ranchers and conservationists, as well as the Northwest Sport Fishing Association.[18] With the bill stalled for several years, governorTina Kotek and other advocates called for President Biden to make the area anational monument in August 2024.[19]
https://www.nps.gov/lecl/learn/historyculture/jeanbaptistecharbonneau.htmhttps://www.ohs.org/research-and-library/oregon-historical-quarterly/upload/OHQ-Summer2004_Ritenauer.pdfhttps://heritagedata.prd.state.or.us/historic/index.cfm?do=main.resourceDetail&resourceid=2311{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
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