 Early explorers described the lower Crooked River's floodplain as large and filled with waist-high grasses and willow trees ("Ochoco" is a Paiute word for "willow").Beaver were also plentiful, especially on the upper river and tributaries, thus fur trappers frequented the region until the beaver were depleted.The Cove Power Plant on the lower Crooked River, built around 1910, effectively blocked upriver migration of spring Chinook Salmon during low streamflow conditions.