Amenities

Campground, parking, boat ramp, shore launch, swimming, bathroom, picnic area with fire pits and barbeques.

History

The Sam Owen Recreation area and Campground was established in 1940 on land donated to the US Forest Service by Sam and Nina Owen. The Owens were owners of a substantial portion of the Hope Peninsula from the late 1880s. Sam worked for the Northern Pacific Railway as the foreman of a Chinese section gang working in the area. Nina immigrated to Hope with her mother from Sweden in 1886. Other members of the community subsequently donated land to enlarge the recreation area.

Significantly, the first fur trading post in what is now the state of Idaho was established about one and a half miles to the south of here. The trading post, called the Kullyspell House, was built by the famous explorer and cartographer David Thompson in the late summer and early fall of 1809. It proved to be less than profitable, however, and was abandoned a few years later. Across a very narrow patch of water from the site of the Kullyspell House lies Memaloose Island, which was used for centuries by the local native peoples as a burial ground. Both the Kullyspell House site and Memaloose Island are now privately owned. The photo above was taken at the pioneers' picnic in Hope in August 1923, and shows several people who played prominent roles in re-discovering the site of the Kullyspell House. Left to right: Payton Owen, brother of the north Idaho pioneer Sam Owen (second from left); Mrs. A. R. Derr (mother of A. M. Derr, Democratic candidate for governor); "Blind Aleck" Klai-Too and Duncan McDonald, who led Sam Owen to the Kullyspell House site; Sam Batish, Indian medicine man; and Compton I. White, Sr., who later became an Idaho Congressman (photo attributed to John Page).

Farther to the southwest, you will see three other islands. The farthest south is Pearl Island, the next is Cottage Island, originally called The Twins by the Kalispel tribe. The large northmost island is Warren Island, originally known as Wasunka, mother of the twins. Pearl Island is public use, and is a popular recreation spot. Both of the other islands are privately owned.