Owyhee County, Idaho
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Owyhee County ( ) is a
county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...
in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of
Idaho Idaho ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest and Mountain states, Mountain West subregions of the Western United States. It borders Montana and Wyoming to the east, Nevada and Utah to the south, and Washington (state), ...
. As of the 2020 census, the population was 11,913. The county seat is Murphy, and its largest city is Homedale. In area it is the second-largest county in Idaho, behind Idaho County. Owyhee County is part of the Boise metropolitan area and contains slightly more than half of the Duck Valley Indian Reservation, which extends over the
Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...
border, into Elko County. The majority of the federally recognized
Shoshone The Shoshone or Shoshoni ( or ), also known by the endonym Newe, are an Native Americans in the United States, Indigenous people of the United States with four large cultural/linguistic divisions: * Eastern Shoshone: Wyoming * Northern Shoshon ...
- Paiute Tribe that is associated with this reservation lives on the Nevada side; its tribal center is in Owyhee, Nevada.


History

This area was the territory of Western Shoshone, Northern Paiute, and Bannock peoples and their ancestors for thousands of years prior to the arrival of European settlers. Settler interests in securing land and resources spurred conflict and led to the indigenous peoples being forced onto reservations. On December 31, 1863, Owyhee County became the first county organized by the Idaho Territory Legislature. While Boise, Idaho,
Nez Perce The Nez Perce (; autonym in Nez Perce language: , meaning 'we, the people') are an Indigenous people of the Plateau who still live on a fraction of the lands on the southeastern Columbia River Plateau in the Pacific Northwest. This region h ...
, and
Shoshone The Shoshone or Shoshoni ( or ), also known by the endonym Newe, are an Native Americans in the United States, Indigenous people of the United States with four large cultural/linguistic divisions: * Eastern Shoshone: Wyoming * Northern Shoshon ...
counties were organized under the laws of
Washington Territory The Washington Territory was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 2, 1853, until November 11, 1889, when the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Washington. It was created from the ...
, they were not recognized by the Idaho Territory until February 1864. The original county seat at Ruby City was moved to nearby Silver City in 1867. Owyhee County's original boundary was the portion of Idaho Territory south of the
Snake River The Snake River is a major river in the interior Pacific Northwest region of the United States. About long, it is the largest tributary of the Columbia River, which is the largest North American river that empties into the Pacific Ocean. Begin ...
and west of the
Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in great-circle distance, straight-line distance from the northernmost part of Western Can ...
. Less than a month after the creation of Owyhee County, Oneida County was formed in January 1864 from the eastern portion of the county. The formation of Cassia County in 1879 took further territory in the east. Owyhee County's history is closely linked to the mining boom that dominated Idaho Territory in the second half of the 19th century. Silver City and Ruby City developed as boom towns. At its height in the 1880s, Owyhee County was among the most populous places in Idaho. Today it is among the least populous, at . Because of pressure from miners and settlers, the federal government made a treaty in 1877 with the Western Shoshone to cede land, and established what is now known as the Duck Valley Indian Reservation in this county and across the border in Elko County, Nevada. The reservation was expanded in 1886 to accommodate people of the Northern Paiute. In the 20th century, the tribes combined and are federally recognized as a single government; the majority of the people live on the Nevada side of the reservation. There were two railroad lines extending into Owyhee County, the first was the Boise Nampa & Owyhee Railroad which built starting in 1896 from Nampa, Idaho south towards Melba, Idaho and eventually across the Snake River into Owyhee County in 1897, whereupon it crossed Rabbit Creek before arriving in Murphy, Idaho. The first train into Murphy occurred in 1899. The Boise, Nampa & Owyhee Railroad was acquired by the Idaho Northern Railroad in 1907; the line was taken over by the Oregon Short Line Railroad in 1913 following their purchase of the Idaho Northern Railroad, after which it became known as the Murphy Branch line. Daily passenger service to Murphy was discontinued in 1942. By 1947, shipping animals out of Murphy was no longer profitable for the railroad. The Murphy portion of the line was abandoned in 1947. In the 1950s, trucks and highways became the dominant mode of transportation. The last train left Melba in 1994, and all rails were torn out in that same year. The second railroad line was the Oregon Shortline Railroad which built south from Nyssa Oregon beginning in 1911, passing through Adrian Oregon the line ended after 25 miles in Homedale Idaho, in 1922 it was extended Marsing Idaho to accommodate additional agricultural traffic. In 1970, the Marsing and Homedale depots were closed by Union Pacific. In 1987, with declining carload, Union Pacific offered the line for sale but no buyers were found. Following the closure of the lumber mill in Homedale in the early 1990s, the Homedale branch (now reduced to the status of an "industrial lead") generated a total of 49 carloads in 1995 and 42 in 1996. In 1997, Union Pacific filed for permission to abandon the Idaho portion of the line and received no formal protest, the tracks were ripped up the following year. Owyhee County gained its present boundaries in 1930 after an election approved moving a portion of it near Glenns Ferry and King Hill to neighboring Elmore County. In 1934, the county seat was moved from the nearly abandoned Silver City to its present location in Murphy. In the 21st century, both Silver City and Ruby City are ghost towns, remnant of the mining boom.


Etymology

The name "Owyhee" derives from an early
anglicization Anglicisation or anglicization is a form of cultural assimilation whereby something non-English becomes assimilated into or influenced by the culture of England. It can be sociocultural, in which a non-English place adopts the English languag ...
of the Hawaiian term "
Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...
". When
James Cook Captain (Royal Navy), Captain James Cook (7 November 1728 – 14 February 1779) was a British Royal Navy officer, explorer, and cartographer famous for his three voyages of exploration to the Pacific and Southern Oceans, conducted between 176 ...
encountered what he named the Sandwich Islands (now the Hawaiian Islands) in 1778, he found them inhabited by
Native Hawaiians Native Hawaiians (also known as Indigenous Hawaiians, Kānaka Maoli, Aboriginal Hawaiians, or simply Hawaiians; , , , and ) are the Indigenous Polynesian people of the Hawaiian Islands. Hawaiʻi was settled at least 800 years ago by Polynesian ...
, whom the Anglo-Americans referred to as "Owyhees". Noted for their hardy physique and maritime skills, numerous Native Hawaiians were hired as crew members aboard European and American vessels. Many Native Hawaiians sailed to the American Northwest coast and found employment along the Columbia River, where they joined trapping expeditions or worked at some of the
fur trading The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of a world fur market in the early modern period, furs of boreal ecosystem, boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals h ...
posts. In 1819, three Native Hawaiians joined Donald Mackenzie's Snake expedition, which went out annually into the Snake country for the
North West Company The North West Company was a Fur trade in Canada, Canadian fur trading business headquartered in Montreal from 1779 to 1821. It competed with increasing success against the Hudson's Bay Company in the regions that later became Western Canada a ...
, a
Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...
-based organization of Canadian fur traders. The three Hawaiians left the main party during the winter of 1819–1820 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.


Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (0.4%) is water. It is the second-largest county in Idaho by area. Nearly all of the county is high intermountain desert, with plentiful
sagebrush Sagebrush is the common name of several woody and herbaceous species of plants in the genus ''Artemisia (plant), Artemisia''. The best-known sagebrush is the shrub ''Artemisia tridentata''. Sagebrush is native to the western half of North Amer ...
and
basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...
canyons. The Owyhee Mountains in the west dominate the landscape, with Hayden Peak reaching above
sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an mean, average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal Body of water, bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical ...
. The lowest
elevation The elevation of a geographic location (geography), ''location'' is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational equipotenti ...
is at the county's northwest corner, where the
Snake River The Snake River is a major river in the interior Pacific Northwest region of the United States. About long, it is the largest tributary of the Columbia River, which is the largest North American river that empties into the Pacific Ocean. Begin ...
is just above at the
Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...
border. The Snake forms most of the county's northern border from Oregon to just west of Glenns Ferry in Elmore County. A tributary of the Snake is the Bruneau River, which flows north from
Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...
through the eastern section of the county. The Owyhee River starts in the southwestern part of the county and flows westward into Oregon; it eventually enters the Snake at the state border, south of Nyssa.


Adjacent counties

* Canyon County – north * Ada County – north * Elmore County – north * Twin Falls County – east * Elko County,
Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...
– south/Pacific Time Border * Humboldt County,
Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...
– southwest/Pacific Time Border * Malheur County,
Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...
– west


National protected areas

* Big Jacks Creek Wilderness * Bruneau - Jarbidge Rivers Wilderness * Deer Flat National Wildlife Refuge (part) * Little Jacks Creek Wilderness * North Fork Owyhee Wilderness * Owyhee River Wilderness * Pole Creek Wilderness * Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area (part)


Demographics


2000 census

As of the 2000 U.S. census, there were 10,644 people, 3,710 households, and 2,756 families living in the county. The
population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...
was . There were 4,452 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 76.87%
White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...
, 0.15% Black or African American, 3.21% Native American, 0.47% Asian, 0.08%
Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...
, 16.50% from other races, and 2.72% from two or more races. 23.10% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. 14.3% were of American, 12.5% German, 10.4% English, and 8.1% Irish ancestry. There were 3,710 households, out of which 37.80% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 61.20% were
married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...
living together, 8.70% had a female householder with no husband present, and 25.70% were non-families. 21.80% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.50% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.85 and the average family size was 3.35. In the county, the population was spread out, with 31.90% under the age of 18, 8.50% from 18 to 24, 26.50% from 25 to 44, 20.90% from 45 to 64, and 12.10% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 33 years. For every 100 females, there were 109.00 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 107.60 males. The median income for a household in the county was $28,339, and the median income for a family was $32,856. Males had a median income of $25,146 versus $20,718 for females. The
per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...
for the county was $13,405. About 14.20% of families and 16.90% of the population were below the
poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...
, including 20.80% of those under age 18 and 12.10% of those age 65 or over.


2010 census

As of the 2010 U.S. census, there were 11,526 people, 4,076 households, and 2,954 families living in the county. The population density was . There were 4,781 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 76.0% white, 4.3% American Indian, 0.5% Asian, 0.2% black or African American, 16.6% from other races, and 2.4% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 25.8% of the population. In terms of ancestry, 19.6% were American, 13.8% were German, 9.5% were English, and 9.4% were Irish. Of the 4,076 households, 36.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 57.3% were married couples living together, 9.6% had a female householder with no husband present, 27.5% were non-families, and 23.0% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.79 and the average family size was 3.29. The median age was 36.0 years. The median income for a household in the county was $33,441 and the median income for a family was $36,405. Males had a median income of $31,404 versus $29,167 for females. The per capita income for the county was $17,373. About 18.0% of families and 22.2% of the population were below the
poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...
, including 33.9% of those under age 18 and 10.8% of those age 65 or over.


Media

* The Owyhee Avalanchebr>County newspaper


Communities


Cities

* Grand View * Homedale * Marsing


Census-designated places

* Bruneau * Murphy


Unincorporated communities

* Claytonia * Murphy Hot Springs * Oreana * Reynolds *
Riddle A riddle is a :wikt:statement, statement, question, or phrase having a double or veiled meaning, put forth as a puzzle to be solved. Riddles are of two types: ''enigmas'', which are problems generally expressed in metaphorical or Allegory, alleg ...


Ghost towns

* De Lamar * Dewey * Grasmere * Ruby City * Silver City * Wickahoney


Politics

Although Owyhee County was amongst the most Democratic in the state in its early history, it has like most of Idaho gradually turned overwhelmingly Republican. In no presidential election since 1940 has the county selected the Democratic candidate, and no Democrat since
Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (October 1, 1924December 29, 2024) was an American politician and humanitarian who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party ...
in 1976 has won more than one-third of the county's vote.


Education

School districts A school district is a special-purpose district that operates local public primary or secondary schools or both in various countries. It is not to be confused with an attendance zone, which is within a school district and is used to assign stud ...
include: * Bruneau-Grand View Joint School District 365 * Castleford School District 417 * Glenns Ferry Joint School District 192 * Homedale Joint School District 370 * Marsing Joint School District 363 * Melba Joint School District 136 * Pleasant Valley Elementary School District 364 * Three Creek Joint Elementary School District 416 Residents in a portion of the county are in the area (but not the taxation zone) for College of Western Idaho. In the remainder, it is in the area (but not the taxation zone) for College of Southern Idaho.


Healthcare

The county is served by the Southwest Idaho Health District.


Gallery

Image:Wildhorsesowyhee.jpg, Wild Horses of Saylor Creek Image:Birds-of-prey-nca-snake-id.png, Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area


See also

* National Register of Historic Places listings in Owyhee County, Idaho * List of counties in Idaho


References


Further reading


A historical, descriptive and commercial directory of Owyhee County, Idaho, January 1898 (1898)


External links


Owyhee County website

Owyhee County Parcel Maps



Owyhee County Historical Society

County newspaper: The Owyhee Avalanche
{{coord, 42.56, -116.17, display=title, type:adm2nd_region:US-ID_source:UScensus1990 Idaho counties Idaho placenames of Native American origin Populated places established in 1863 Boise metropolitan area 1863 establishments in Idaho Territory