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Owyhee canyon country covers millions of acres in the three corners region of Oregon, Idaho, and Nevada. The Owyhee River, a tributary of the Snake, weaves for 346 miles through the region, and its watershed covers 11,049 square miles.

The name “Owyhee” comes from an early anglicization of the name for Hawai’i and natives from the islands were known as Owyhee. In 1819, three Owyhee joined Donald Mackenzie’s Snake expedition, which went out annually into the Snake country for the North West Company. The three Hawaiians left the main party during the winter of 1819-20 to explore the then unknown terrain of what since has been called the Owyhee River and mountains. They disappeared and were presumed dead; no further information regarding their whereabouts has been found. In memory of these Native Hawaiians, British fur trappers started to call the region “Owyhee” and the name stuck.