Name: Buffalo Bill Dam and Reservoir
County: Park
Authority Name:
GNIS Entry (Dam)
GNIS Entry (Reservoir)
Longitude: 1091102W (Dam)
Longitude: 1091322W (Reservoir)
Latitude: 443004N (Dam)
Latitude: 442929N (Reservoir)
Legal Description:
Elevation: 5371/1637 (Dam)
(ft/m)
Elevation: 5374/1638(Reservoir)
(ft/m)
Feature Type: Dam and Reservoir
Origin of Name:
Originally called the Shoshone Dam and Shoshone Reservoir because of its location on the Shoshone River.
Source: WSL
On March 11, 1946 the following resolution was approved: Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United. States of America in Congress assembled, That in commemoration of the one hundredth anniversary of the birth on February 26, 1846, of William Frederick Cody, better known as Buffalo Bill, the name of the Shoshone Dam and Reservoir in Park County, Wyoming, is changed effective February 26, 1946, to the "Buffalo Bill Dam and Reservoir".
Source: United States Statutes (60 Stat. 54)
Other Names: Shoshone Dam and Shoshone Reservoir
Alternative Spellings:
History:
Shoshone Dam completed in 1910 after four years' work, was built to impound water for 300,000 acres of dry land in northern Shoshone Valley. It is 328 feet high, 200 feet wide at its crest, and varies in thickness from 108 feet at the base to 10 feet at the top. From downstream, the dam resembles a white concrete wedge thrust solidly between the towering cliffs. Water cascades from the spillway. The reservoir covers a tract 10 miles long and 4 miles wide.
Source: Wyoming Guide
Stories:
Maps:
1:24000 Quadrangle: Shoshone Canyon (Dam)
1:24000 Quadrangle: Irma Flats (Reservoir)
Newspapers:
More Information:
Shoshone Project
Shoshone Irrigation District
Buffalo Bill Dam & Visitor Center
Pictures:
Shoshone Dam: view of completed structure from right bank of river 1500 feet up stream. Shoshone Project. Park County, Wyoming.
Courtesy of the US Geological Survey Photographic Library