Cowley News: Learning about the Buffalo Bill Dam

Summer is finally here. Hooray! Let the fun begin.

We have decided this year to go on adventures locally, not thousands of miles away like Europe or Mexico. Often people travel hundreds of miles away to see sights but miss out on the things where they live. We travel through Yellowstone Park three to four times a year and always say to ourselves that it would be nice to stop and take a look at the Buffalo Bill Dam. Of course, we never do because we are on our way somewhere and don’t have time. We decided to make a special trip to see the dam and visitor center.

Back in the 1800’s Wyoming was a lot of desert, very dry and forbidding. At that time, the Big Horn Basin was one of the last regions to be settled in the United States. Pioneers came to claim the unsettled land. It became apparent that a dependable water supply was needed to survive.

Buffalo Bill Cody and his partner ranched near where the dam is built today. He and his associates acquired rights to take water from the Shoshone river to irrigate 169,000 acres of land in the Big Horn Basin.  A water reclamation act was supported by Theodore Roosevelt. In 1903, it was proposed, and construction began on the Shoshone Dam, later to be called the Buffalo Bill Dam.

It was a very difficult undertaking. Three different engineering companies worked on the dam, the first two failing to complete it. Conditions were hard and dangerous. Weather was freezing in the winter, and water was rising in the spring. Seven people lost their lives. The last engineer placed steam tents over the cement to keep the frost away.

When it was finally completed in 1910, it was the highest dam in the world at 325 feet. The Buffalo Bill Dam was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. It is also a National Civil Engineering Landmark. In 1993 it was decided to raise the crest of the dam an additional 25 feet to create additional water storage, enlarging and gating the spillway and building dikes. It also created more power generating capacity, supplying electricity to many parts of Wyoming.

Today, the Buffalo Bill Dam supplies four irrigation districts encompassing more than 93,000 acres of farmland in the Big Horn Basin. The crops raised are beans, alfalfa, oats, barley and sugar beets. Since 1908, lands using reclamation water have produced $700 million worth of inventory. The Sidon Canal, hand dug from the Shoshone River, has been so wonderful for our town of Cowley.

I am thankful for the green grass and beautiful trees that we would not be able to enjoy without water.  The vision of those people so long ago has made our lives so much better.  Many of you know about this great undertaking, but it is a reminder of the true historical events that benefit us today.  Stop and take a look at this amazing dam, and say “Thank you.”