Owyhee Trails: The West's Forgotten Corner [Paperback]

Mike Hanley (Author), Ellis Lucia (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 1973

Distributed by the University of Nebraska Press for Caxton Press

The high desert of the Owyhee Mountain region has a history rich in native conflicts, settlers braving its harsh deserts, miners searching for fortune in its rugged mountains and boomtowns springing up and then crashing down as the mines dried up.  

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Owyhee Trails is an incredible book researched for 20 years by an incredibly tenacious rancher, Mike Hanley."—Jeri Cook, Cascade Cattleman

(Jeri Cook Cascade Cattleman )

"Rancher and historian Mike Hanley (with the help of writer Ellis Lucia) has created in Owyhee Trails a refreshingly unpretentious and informative account of one of the little known areas of the West."—Myron Newman, Times, Palo Alto, CA

(Myron Newman Times )

About the Author

Mike Hanley and Ellis Lucia are prolific writers and historians both of whom have worked in and around the Owyhee region for much of their lives.  

Product Details

• Paperback: 314 pages
• Publisher: Caxton Press; Paper edition later printing edition (December 1, 1973)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0870042815
• ISBN-13: 978-0870042812
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #879,546 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars excellent book on the wests "forgotten corner", May 26, 1999

By 

Paul Harris (Sacramento,Ca) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Owyhee Trails: The West's Forgotten Corner (Paperback)

This book tells it all in regards to a part of the west that is not generaly known. The early pioneer days of south eastern Oregon and south western Idaho have all the richness and real west excitment of any place you could name. Complete with mining booms & busts, Indian Wars and hardy sagas of pioneer homesteaders and ranchers...Owyhee Tales tells it all! A great companion to any western history buffs collection or to the new crop of whitewater river runners who journey to the areas namesake river, the Owyhee.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Unstoried West, August 8, 2006

By 

Smallchief - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Owyhee Trails: The West's Forgotten Corner (Paperback)

Look on a map you'll see a large empty area in southeastern Oregon and the adjacent parts of Idaho, south of the capital city of Boise. The Owyhee River slices through here and on the more-detailed maps you'll see a few places identified as towns such as Silver City, Idaho and Jordan Valley, Oregon. Calling them "towns" proves to be an exaggeration if you are one of the infrequent travelers passing this way.

You won't find much reference to the Owyhee region in conventional books of Western history -- but a lot happened there. The two authors have compiled a regional history that is full of tales and forgotten history of a neglected region. For example, I had never realized that the Bannock and Paiute Indians fought a series of wars with the White settlers. These were the despised "Digger" Indians and yet they proved to be pretty formidable in battle.

Moreover, the tales of the early miners, cattlemen, and sheepherders of the region are fascinating. Cattle to stock the region were driven all the way from Texas; Basques came from Spain to herd sheep; and Silver City briefly was one of the richest mines ever discovered. Even the story of how the region acquired its odd name is worthy of attention. Somehow, though, the Owyhee country didn't attract the mythmakers of the Old West.

The authors have remedied the lack of attention to the Owyhee with a well-researched and fair-minded history that is illustrated with many photographs and enhanced by the the personal experiences of Owyhee native, Mike Hanley, the co-author. The prose, I thought, was a little rough at times, but the quality of the material and the research overcomes this defect. This is a good regional history.

Smallchief

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A historical book about my part of Oregon, January 19, 2002

By 

Tom Switzer - See all my reviews

This review is from: Owyhee Trails: The West's Forgotten Corner (Hardcover)

Being a fan of books about the area I live in and especilly the part of the state that I love to roam around in This book was a real read. A lot of familiar names both people and places made it even more intresting.