Payette

The Payette River descends from mountain lakes and forests to join the Snake, crossing a country used by Shoshone, Nez Perce, Paiute and Bannock peoples. Families travelled between the lower valleys and upland gathering grounds, harvesting camas bulbs and other foods. Controlled burning helped maintain some camas fields. In 1818 a party of fur traders named the river for their companion François Payette, bringing a new name to a waterway already known to its Indigenous inhabitants.

The later city of Boise lies here.