Owyhee Trails: The West's Forgotten Corner (Paperback)

by Mike Hanley (Author), Ellis Lucia (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"Owyhee Trails" is an incredible book researched for 20 years by an incredibly tenacious rancher, Mike Hanley. -- Jeri Cook, Cascade Cattleman, January 1999

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, August 10, 1974

Product Description
The Owyhees (pronounced oh-Y-hees), sharp and ragged peaks rising from the high desert of Oregon and Idaho, have been the site of mining booms and Indian battles, holdups and range wars. Mike Hanley ranches near Jordan Valley, Oregon, in the shadow of the Owyhee Mountains. With Ellis Lucia, he recounts the boisterous past and present of this wild and rugged corner of the west.

Product Details

• Paperback: 314 pages
• Publisher: Caxton Press (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.com Sales Rank: #749,641 in Books (See Bestsellers 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	[e-mail] (Sacramento,Ca) - See all my reviews

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.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

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

By	Smallchief - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

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 (Canyon City, Or United States) - 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.