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).

The earliest surviving record of the name is found on a map dating to 1825, drawn by William Kittson (who was previously with MacKenzie in 1819–1820, and then with Peter Skene Ogden (1790-1854), in 1825), on which he notes "Owhyhee River" (his spelling).

[8] The discovery of gold and silver deposits in the region in 1863 resulted in a usual "rush" of a temporary influx of prospectors / miners and the establishment of mining camps and ramshackle towns, most of which have long since decayed into ruins or disappeared.

[6] On May 16, 1866, the Indian Lemhi Shoshone-French son of Sacagawea, Jean Baptiste Charbonneau (1805-1866), died at age 61 years old, near Jordan Creek / Owyhee River and Jordan Valley after catching a chill upon crossing the Owyhee River en route from California to new gold field strikes in the old Montana Territory.

The river runs through the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, and then past the communities of Mountain City and Owyhee in the Duck Valley Indian Reservation of Nevada.

It then enters southwestern Idaho, flowing northwest for approximately 50 miles (80 km) across the southwest corner of the state through Owyhee County.

Part of the designation includes the section of the river downstream from the Owyhee Dam, where the river flows through a remote section of deeply incised canyons surrounded by high canyon rims that are habitat for mountain lion, bobcat, mule deer, California bighorn sheep, and a large variety of raptors.

The Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 designated 323,274 acres (130,824 ha) on and around the Owyhee River in Idaho as wilderness.

It would preserve 1 million acres (400 thousand hectares) of Owyhee canyonlands as wilderness, while calling for improvements to loop roads to bring in visitors.

[15] With the bill stalled for several years, governor Tina Kotek and other advocates called for President Biden to make the area a national monument in August 2024.