The name: According to historians, the naming of the town came down to the luck of the draw for Jacob Mussel, who spurred its growth after establishing a ferry across the Snake River in 1898. Sometime in 1907, area residents placed their suggestions for the town’s name into a hat. Mussel’s suggested name was drawn.

History: Homedale has a rich early history, marked by jackrabbit hunts and a group of swindled settlers who have become known as “the Austrians.” Here’s a look at some of the events that have become part of the town’s history:

• The town’s first school was established in the home of Jacob Mussel — who gave the town its namesake — and his wife, Ada.
• Jackrabbits, which were despised for being major destroyers of crops, became the target of periodic hunts. Some accounts detail how some of the hunts were so successful, thousands of jackrabbits were killed in a single day.
• About 1913, two companies arrived to develop the area. The Oregon Short Line Railroad built a depot with a water tank and stockyard and the Gem State Irrigation Co. began pumping water.
• “The Austrians” arrived on Valentine’s Day 1914. Mostly Yugoslavian immigrants, they had given their life savings after being promised comfortable homes and 40-acre alfalfa farms in Homedale. But when they arrived, they realized they had been swindled. They found rickety shacks and sagebrush — which they had to pay to keep. Some of their descendants still live in the area.
• In 1920, the a celebration heralding the completion of the first Homedale bridge was marred by a shooting. According to newspaper reports, Owyhee Avalanche Editor Frank Trotter was killed by Theodore Nye of the Homedale State Bank.

Trivia fact: The Owyhee Avalanche, a weekly Homedale-based weekly newspaper, has published continuously since 1931, when it was called the Owyhee Chronicle.