Owyhee River - History

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" . 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. This invasion of Native American territory set off the 1864-1868 Snake War.

In 1866 the son of Sacagawea, Jean Baptiste Charbonneau, died near Jordan Valley after catching a chill upon crossing the Owyhee en route from California to new gold strikes in Montana (one of the gold strikes, near Bannack, Montana, was interestingly just a few miles from where he had traveled as a toddler with his mother in the company of William Clark). After almost a century of neglect, his grave is now well marked, off Highway 95, near Danner at 42°57′07.1″N 117°20′21.4″W / 42.951972°N 117.339278°W / 42.951972; -117.339278 (Jean Baptiste Charbonneau gravesite).