Bull Basin is located in the Owyhee canyon lands, adjacent to the Owyhee River Wilderness area. It’s a few miles north of the Crutcher Crossing site on the Owyhee River. The name likely originated from the fact that it was a good place to winter stock and provided good hay, especially when the rains came.
One of the more colorful residents of Bull Basin was a Norwegian immigrant named Oley Skamfer who was known for his smelly homemade corned beef. He worked both Bull Basin and Crutcher Crossing for the owners from approximately 1920 till he died in 1954. Oley was well known in the area and became one of Jordan Valley’s famous “characters”.
The remains of some of the very old structures including a log cabin could be seen as recently as 2005 but are now gone. Besides the corral the only structure now at the site is a more recent small bunkhouse.
This cache is a fairly large size ammo container. Reaching it should be attempted in either an ATV or high clearance 4WD vehicle. As it is at a crossroads of sorts, there are several ways to get to Bull Basin but the most direct is to head south from the Owyhee Byways road (aka Juniper Mountain Rd), cross Juniper Mountain and Bedstead Ridge, and then drop down into Bull Basin. The area is very remote so extra supplies including gas, food, and water are recommended “just in case”.
If you enjoy visiting these old historical sites and homesteads, you should also visit the series of caches setup by Gary & Margie called the "Owyhee Homestead Series" dedicated to the pioneers who settled this area. I've visited several so far and look forward to getting to the rest.
Other caches in the Owyhee Homestead Series: