Owyhee_River

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Owyhee River

The Owyhee River is a tributary of the Snake River located in northern Nevada, southwestern Idaho and southeastern Oregon in the United States. It is long. The river's drainage basin is in area, one of the largest subbasins of the Columbia Basin. The mean annual discharge is 995 cubic feet per second (cfs), with a maximum of 50,000 cfs recorded in 1993 and a minimum of 42 cfs in 1954.

The Owyhee drains a remote area of the arid plateau region on the north edge of the Great Basin, rising in northeastern Nevada and flowing generally northward near the Oregon-Idaho border to the Snake River. Its watershed is very sparsely populated. The Owyhee River and tributaries flow through the Owyhee Plateau, cutting deep canyons, often with vertical walls and in some places over deep.

Course

The Owyhee River has its source in northeastern Nevada, in northern Elko County, approximately 50 miles (80 km) north of the city of Elko. It flows north along the east side of the Bull Run Mountains, passing through Wild Horse Reservoir and then cutting northeast past the north end of the range. The river runs through the Humboldt National Forest, and then past the communities of Mountain City and Owyhee in the Duck Valley Indian Reservation. It then enters southwestern Idaho, flowing northwest for approximately 50 miles (80 km) across the southwest corner of the state through Owyhee 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 the Little Owyhee River.

The Owyhee River then enters extreme southeast Oregon in southern Malheur County, generally flowing north in a zigzag course east of the Idaho border. It merges with the West Little Owyhee River from the south, then receives the Middle Fork Owyhee River and North Fork Owyhee River from the east at a location known as "Three Forks". It then passes through the Owyhee Canyon between Big Grassy Mountain and Whitehouse Butte, then turns north, flowing east of Burns Junction and then west of the Mahogany Mountains. 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 east on the Oregon-Idaho border approximately 5 miles (8 km) south of Nyssa, Oregon and 2 miles (3 km) south of the mouth of the Boise River. The final stretch of the river, below Owyhee Dam, emerges from the Owyhee Plateau and enters the Snake River Plain.

River modifications

In northern Malheur County, approximately 20 miles (32 km) upstream from its mouth on the Snake, the Owyhee River is impounded by the Owyhee Dam, creating the serpentine Lake Owyhee, approximately 52 miles (84 km) long. The dam was constructed by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation primarily to provide irrigation for the agricultural potato-growing region around the Snake River. Lake Owyhee State Park and scenic Leslie Gulch are along the eastern shore of the reservoir. Owyhee Dam was built in 1933 and eliminated anadromous fish such as salmon from the Owyhee River basin.

History

The watershed of the river was part of region inhabited by the Shoshone and Bannock Indians.

The name of the river is from the older spelling of "Hawaii". It was named for three Hawaiian trappers, in the employ of the North West Company, who were sent to explore the uncharted river. They failed to return to the rendezvous near the Boise River and were never seen again. Due to this the river and its region was named "Owyhee". About one-third of the men with Donald MacKenzie's Snake Country Expeditions of 1819-20 were Hawaiians, commonly called "Kanakas" or "Sandwich Islanders" in those days, with "Owyhee" being a standard period spelling of the proper Hawaiian 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 Indians 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). Indians 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 Donald MacKenzie in 1819-1820, and then with Peter Skene Ogden in 1825), on which he notes "Owhyhee River" [sic]. Journal entries in 1826 by Peter Skene Ogden, a fur trapper who led subsequent Snake Country Expeditions for the Hudson's Bay Company refer to the river primarily as the "Sandwich Island River", but also as "S.I. River", "River Owyhee" and "Owyhee River.

The discovery of gold and silver in the region in 1863 resulted in a temporary influx of miners and the establishment of mining camps, most of whom have long since disappeared. The initial discovery was along Jordan Creek, and mining activity rapidly spread through the Owyhee watershed. The mining effort involved more than placer operations, but underground mines and mills, resulting in a prolonged history of mining in the region.

Protected areas

In 1984, the United States Congress designated 120 miles (193 km) of the river as Owyhee Wild and Scenic River. 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 for mountain lion, bobcat, Mule Deer, California Bighorn Sheep, and a large variety of raptors.