Owyhee - What's in a name? (Captain Cook, Hana: employment, living in, gardens)
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Reading a recent news article about a wild horse roundup in Owhyhee Wilderness in Idaho, my curiosity was piqued about that name, and I started digging. I found a number of places in the Pacific Northwest that carried the name Owyhee: a mountain range in Idaho and Oregon; a town in Nevada; a river in Idaho, Oregon, and Nevada; a lake in Oregon; a desert in Nevada; and a Wilderness Area in Idaho.
It turns out that Owyhee was a common English spelling for Hawai'i in the 1800s, and that Native Hawaiian men... referred to in that era as Kanakas... served as scouts or guides on many explorations into the PNW from the Pacific Coast. The river in Idaho was named Owyhee to honor the three kanaka scouts who went on an expedition up this tributary to the Snake River, but who were never seen again.
There is interesting history behind many of the place names IN Hawai'i as well. I was looking at an old map of the Island of Hawai'i from the U of H collection recently and found that the town we call Kea'au today was called Nine Mile on that map.
I like the spelling much better than the current "Hawai'i", btw
Spelling was a lot more fluid in those days. Captain Cook wrote the name "Ohwhyhee" in his journal, but Owyhee became more widely used. Some of the missionaries in Boston in 1820 wrote that they were going to Ohwihe.
And look at this note from HawaiiHistory.org:
Quote:
Earliest recorded piece of Hawaiian mail is a letter sent to New York from "Hanaloorah, Waohoo," from one of the first missionaries.
Here are several more interesting facts that were brought to my attention by Hawaiian by Heart...
Kalama, Washington is named after John Kalama from Kula, Maui, who first came to the PNW in the early 1800s
Friday Harbor on San Juan Island was named for Joe Friday, whose original name was “Poalie.”
Also there's Aloha, Oregon, and Kanaka Bay, Washington.
Quote:
The first Hawaiians were recruited in 1811 by the North West Company, twelve for ship deckhands and twelve to work in the fur trade brigades. Part of their value was in their canoeing and swimming skills. The French Voygeurs had great canoe handling skills but could not swim. When a canoe flipped, everything would be lost, often even the men. But with Owyhees along, there would be excellent swimmers to save men and recover goods from the bottom of rivers. The Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) which merged with the rival North West Company, decided, as a “safety device,” to put an Owyhee in every canoe with the French Voyageurs.
During the fur trapping era, Hawaiians made many trips into the interior, to Fort Spokane and beyond to the Grand Tetons. This is how Owyhee and other Hawaiian names were attached to a number of interior geographic features such as rivers, lakes and even mountain ranges.
Lots of kanakas worked in California, both before and after the gold rush, and there are a few place names that remain. I believe there was a kanaka at Sutter's fort when gold was discovered at his famous mill.
There is also a Laka Aloha in the Desolation Wilderness, not too far from Lake Tahoe. But it's a shallow man-made reservoir, so I don't know how it was named.
Lots of kanakas worked in California, both before and after the gold rush, and there are a few place names that remain. I believe there was a kanaka at Sutter's fort when gold was discovered at his famous mill.
There is also a Laka Aloha in the Desolation Wilderness, not too far from Lake Tahoe. But it's a shallow man-made reservoir, so I don't know how it was named.
I know correct usage would be "lots of kanaka," but I suspect that English plural was applied to the word at the time.
After a bit more googling, I found a Kanaka Valley in the California gold country (near lake Folsom), with a Kanaka Valley Road. Here is a link that mentions the Kanaka gold seekers in the area: Kanaka ValleyThe Windfall
The "kanakas" that went to California during the Gold Rush left behind a little more than just "place names."[/url]
Indeed, and also in Washington and Oregon and up into Canada, where kanakas were prized in the fur trade and fishing industries, they were encouraged to marry local First Nation women as a way of having them put down roots so they would want to stay. And from what I've read, those native women were eager to marry kanaka men, because they were considered very handsome and were hard workers.
Consequently, even though the Hudson's Bay Company had posted a bond to Kamehameha in the amount of $300 in gold for each man they hired, to guarantee they would be returned to the Kingdom of Hawai'i when their employment was over, many of them never did return. This was the beginning of what is now quite a large population of Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders in the PNW.
Matter of fact, I was surprised to find that according to the last census, only about 25% of all Americans who identify themselves as Native Hawaiians or Pacific Islanders live in the State of Hawai'i today, where they comprise only 10.1% of the population of the state.
I was surprised to find that according to the last census, only about 25% of all Americans who identify themselves as Native Hawaiians or Pacific Islanders live in the State of Hawai'i today, where they comprise only 10.1% of the population of the state.
I'm no expert, but I wouldn't mix the numbers for (native) Hawaiians with other Pacific Islanders (even if the census bureau does). Those numbers would be skewed by Samoans, Tongans, etc. living in Hawaii and the mainland. I'm sure there are numbers out there for the Hawaiians alone. I seem to recall it was closer to 50% living on the mainland--but I'm too lazy to look it up now.
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