Beowawe is a Paiute Native American word meaning "gate", so named for the peculiar shape of the hills close to town which gives the effect of a gateway opening to the valley beyond.

Gravelly Ford, a noted site on the California Trail, is about six miles east of Beowawe[3] on Pioneer Pass Road.

Currently, Beowawe is once again tied to energy production, the home to both a geothermal power plant and a large propane tank farm near the railroad.

The surface expression of the geothermal system consists of a "215-foot-high (66 m), 1-mile-long (1.6 km) opaline sinter terrace produced by hot spring and natural geyser (sic fumarole) activity along the base of the Malpais Rim.

The spectacular hot water and steam plume that are present at(1985/1986) vents continuously along the top of the sinter terrace is not a natural geyser, but is a free-flowing, uncapped geothermal well."