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The Owyhee River is a tributary of the located in northern Nevada, southwestern Idaho and southeastern Oregon in the Western United States and its Pacific Northwest region. It is long.Owyhee River [1], accessed November 3, 2019 The river's is in area, one of the largest subbasins of the Columbia River Basin with its major waterways of the and . Willamette Subbasin Plan , Northwest Power and Conservation Council The mean annual discharge is , with a maximum of recorded in 1993 and a minimum of in 1954. Owyhee Subbasin Plan , Northwest Power and Conservation Council

The Owyhee drains a remote area of the arid region immediately north of the 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 deep.


History of the name
The watershed of the river was part of region inhabited by the and indigenous Native Americans / Indians. The name of the river is from the older spelling of "Hawaii". It was named for three trappers (from the then little-known far-off chain in the middle of the Pacific Ocean). They were in the employ of the old North West Company (1779–1821). The North West Company was headquartered north of the and along the St. Lawrence River at , Quebec (then the province of in British North America, today is the modern ), who were sent to explore the uncharted river in the wilderness of the Pacific Northwest region and far western North America continent. They failed to return to the rendezvous camp near the and were never seen again. Due to this the river and its region were subsequently named "Owyhee".

About one-third of the men with Donald MacKenzie's Snake Country Expeditions of 1819–1820 were Hawaiians, commonly called "" 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 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 with Peter 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 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".See Alexander Ross's Fur Hunters of the Far West, the Journals of Peter Skene Ogden and the Kittson map published with Ogden's journals by the Hudson's Bay Records Society.


History

Mining
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 along Jordan 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.


Death of Jean Baptiste Charbonneau
On May 16, 1866, the Indian -French son of , Jean Baptiste Charbonneau (1805–1866), died at age 61 years old, near Jordan Creek / Owyhee River and Jordan Valley after catching a chill upon crossing the Owyhee River en route from California to new gold field strikes in the old Montana Territory.

After almost a century of neglect, his grave is now well marked, off the highway of U.S. Route 95 (see U.S. Route 95 in Oregon), near Danner, Oregon at .


Course
The source of the Owyhee River is in northeastern Nevada, in northern Elko County, approximately north of the / town of Elko. It flows north along the east side of the Independence Mountains of Nevada, passing through Wild Horse Reservoir and then cutting northeast past the north end of the range. The river runs through the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, and then past the communities of Mountain City and Owyhee in the Duck Valley Indian Reservation of Nevada. It then enters southwestern Idaho, flowing northwest for approximately across the southwest corner of the state through Owyhee County. It is then joined by the South Fork Owyhee River from the south, approximately east of the Oregon border. The main tributary of the South Fork is the Little Owyhee River.

The Owyhee River then enters extreme southeast corner of Oregon in southern Malheur County, generally flowing north in a zigzag course west of the north-south Oregon / Idaho state 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 , then turns north, flowing east of Burns Junction and then west of Mahogany 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 south of Nyssa, Oregon, and south of the mouth of the . 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 upstream from its mouth on the Snake, the Owyhee River is impounded by the , creating the serpentine , approximately long. The dam was constructed by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (part of the United States Department of the Interior), primarily to provide 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 scenic are along the eastern shore of the reservoir. was built in 1933 and eliminated fish such as spawning from the Owyhee River basin.


Protected areas
In 1984, the United States Congress designated of the river as Owyhee Wild and Scenic River under the Wild 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 for , , , California , and a large variety of raptors.

The Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 designated on and around the Owyhee River in Idaho as wilderness. The bill was signed into law by 44th President , two months after his inauguration on March 30, 2009. The new wilderness areas are:

  • North Fork Owyhee Wilderness –
  • Owyhee River Wilderness –
  • Pole Creek Wilderness –

The two United States Senators representing Oregon in the U.S. Senate (upper chamber of the Congress) at the United States Capitol in the federal national capital city of far to the east of Washington, D.C., and (both Democrats), introduced the Owyhee Act in November 2019. It would preserve of Owyhee canyonlands as wilderness, while calling for improvements to loop roads to bring in visitors. It also designated of the river for protection under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act. It was supported by both ranchers and conservationists, as well as the Northwest Sport Fishing Association. With the bill stalled for several years, governor and other advocates called for President Biden to make the area a national monument in August 2024.


Tributaries
  • Jordan Creek is a tributary. It flows generally west from near Silver City, Idaho, in the to near Rome in the Oregon High Desert.
  • The West Little Owyhee River has a source at an elevation of near the Nevada-Oregon border by the community of McDermitt, Nevada. Approximately in length, the river flows east by Deer Flat and into Louse Canyon. Near a prominent feature known as Twin Buttes, it turns sharply north as it cuts through the , making its way to the Owyhee River.
  • The Lake Fork West Owyhee River is a short tributary of the West Little Owyhee River that begins near the Cat, Bend, and Pedroli springs near the eastern boundary of the Fort McDermitt Indian Reservation (for the and native tribes) near the old U.S. Army post of (1865 / 1866–1889), in southern Malheur County, Oregon. It flows generally northeast to meet the larger river in . The Lake Fork has no named tributaries.
  • The Little Owyhee River is a long tributary of the South Fork Owyhee River. Beginning at an elevation of Source elevation derived from search using GNIS source coordinates. east of the Santa Rosa Range in eastern Humboldt County, Nevada, it flows generally east into Elko County, Nevada and the .
  • Blue Creek is a long tributary that begins at an elevation of in central Owyhee County, it flows generally south through the and near the community of Riddle, where it is roughly paralleled by Idaho State Highway 51. It then flows into the Duck Valley Indian Reservation to its mouth near the east-west Idaho/Nevada state border, northwest of Owyhee, Nevada, at an elevation of .


See also
  • List of Idaho rivers
  • List of longest streams of Idaho
  • List of longest streams of Oregon
  • List of National Wild and Scenic Rivers
  • List of Nevada rivers
  • List of rivers of Oregon
  • Owyhee


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