Owyhee River
Owyhee River
Owyhee Canyon
Template: Infobox River / Obsolete
Template: Infobox River / BILD_fehlt
Template: Infobox River / Obsolete
Template: Infobox River / Obsolete
Template: Infobox River / Obsolete
The Owyhee River is a left tributary of the Snake River in northern Nevada, in southwestern Idaho and southeastern Oregon in the United States.
The river has a length of 557 km. The catchment area of the Owyhee River includes 28,617 km ². The average discharge is 28 m³ / s A maximum discharge of 1,416 m³ / s was measured in 1993. The minimum runoff was measured in 1954 and was 1 m³ / s
The Owyhee River drains a remote sparsely populated area, which is located on an arid plateau at the northern edge of the Great Basin. He has reached its origins in northeastern Nevada, from where it flows in a predominantly north to the border with Oregon and Idaho and the Snake River. The Owyhee River and its tributaries cut through the Owyhee Plateau. The deep gorges framed by vertical walls reaching heights of over 300 partial m.
River
The Owyhee River has its source in northeastern Nevada, in Elko County nördlichenorthern, about 80: miles north of Elko. It flows north along the east side of the Bull Run Mountains of Nevada. It then flows through the Wild Horse Reservoir and turns to the northeast. The Owyhee River passes later the Humboldt National Forest, as well as the towns of Mountain City and Owyhee in the Duck Valley Indian Reservation. Now it reaches Southwest Idaho and flows about 80 km to the northwest by the Owyhee County.
The South Fork Owyhee River flows east to the Owyhee River about 15 km to the Oregon border from the south. The largest tributary of the South Fork of the Little Owyhee River.
The Owyhee River crosses the Oregon border in southern Malheur County. It flows predominantly in the north and has a zigzag course on.
Now the West Little Owyhee River joins from the south of the river. Then reached the North Fork Owyhee River from the east at " Three Forks " on the Owyhee River. The Middle Fork Owyhee River flows about 500 m upstream of the mouth of the North Fork of the South in this.
Between Big Grassy Mountain and White House Butte flows through the Owyhee River Canyon the Owyhee. It flows in a northerly direction, east of Burns Junction and west of the Mahogany Mountains over. Here meet the following tributaries of the Owyhee River Jordan Creek, Rattlesnake Creek and Crooked Creek.
The Owyhee River finally reaches the Snake River from the west on the border between Oregeon and Idaho, approximately 8 km south of Nyssa and 3 km south of the mouth of the Boise River. In the last section of the river, below the Owyhee Dam, leaving the Owyhee River Owyhee Plateau and the reached the level of the Snake River Plain.
Interventions in the river
In the northern Malheur County, about 30 km upstream of the confluence with the Snake River, the Owyhee River is dammed by the Owyhee Dam to serpentine and about 84 km long Lake Owyhee. The dam was built by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation with the aim to irrigate for potato cultivation agricultural region on the Snake River. Lake Owyhee State Park and the scenic Leslie Gulch located on the eastern shore of the reservoir. Since the completion of the Owyhee Dam in 1933 anadromous fish like salmon have disappeared from the catchment area of the Owyhee River.
History
The catchment area of the Owyhee River was inhabited by the Shoshone Bannock and Indians.
The river's name is derived from the earlier spelling of " Hawaii". He was named after three Hawaiian trappers who worked for the North West Company and had the task to explore the river. But not you returned and remained missing. The name of the river and the region was named in memory of her " Owyhee ".
Reserves
1984 were awarded the Owyhee Wild and Scenic River 107 km stretch of river. This includes the river section of the Owyhee River, which is the effluent from the Owyhee Dam and runs through deep gorges. These form the habitat for cougar, bobcat, mule deer, bighorn sheep Californian and a variety of birds of prey. North Fork Owyhee River and South Fork Owyhee River are also excellent as a National Wild and Scenic Rivers.
The Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 declared a 1308 km ² large area on the Owyhee River, located in Idaho, to the wilderness zone ( " wilderness" ). The following wilderness areas, these include:
- North Fork Owyhee Wilderness (175 km ²)
- Owyhee River Wilderness ( 1081 km ²)
- Pole Creek Wilderness (50 km ²)