This was the name given the beautiful Sandwich Islands by Captain James Cook when he discovered them on his second voyage in 1778. Afterwards, they were called the Hawaiian Islands.
The association of this name with a river, a range of mountains, and a county in Idaho came about through the activities of the Hudson Bay Company, when in 1819, three Sandwich Island Indians, or Owyhee’s, under the leadership of Captain Donald Mackenzie, were trapping on the river that now bears the name when they were attacked by a band of Naked Indians and killed.
After this time the river was known as the Sandwich Island River and was later called the Owyhee River. The mountains and the county were subsequently named for the river. Originally, as expressed by Captain Cook, the word meant Delightful, Beautiful, or Satisfying, which is truly symbolized in the famous Owyhee.