| Buffalo Bill Dam | |
|---|---|
 Buffalo Bill Dam (prior to 1961) | |
  Location of Buffalo Bill Dam in Wyoming | |
| Official name | Buffalo Ridge |
| Location | Park County, Wyoming, US |
| Coordinates | 44°30′6″N 109°11′0″W / 44.50167°N 109.18333°W |
| Construction began | 1905 |
| Opening date | 1910 |
| Operator(s) | U.S. Bureau of Reclamation |
| Dam and spillways | |
| Type of dam | Concrete gravity arch |
| Impounds | Shoshone River |
| Height | 350 feet (110 m) |
| Length | 200 feet (61 m) |
| Width (crest) | 10 feet (3.0 m) |
| Width (base) | 108 feet (33 m) |
| Dam volume | 87,515 cu yd (66,910 m3) |
| Spillway type | Concrete lined tunnel through south abutment, radial arm gates |
| Spillway capacity | 84,725 cu ft/s (2,399.1 m3/s) |
| Reservoir | |
| Creates | Buffalo Bill Reservoir |
| Total capacity | 869,230 acre-feet (1.07218 km3) nominal, 623,557 acre-feet (0.769146 km3) due to siltation |
| Power Station | |
| Hydraulic head | 265 ft (81 m) |
| Turbines | 1 x 3 MW Francis turbine, Unit 3 in Shoshone Powerplant 3 x 6 MW Francis turbines in Buffalo Bill Powerplant 1 x 5 MW Francis turbine in Heart Mountain Powerplant and 1 x 4.5 MW Francis turbine in Spirit Mountain Powerplant |
| Installed capacity | 30.5 MW |
| Annual generation | 91,114,580 KWh |
Buffalo Bill Dam | |
| Location | W of Cody on U.S. 14 |
| Nearest city | Cody, Wyoming |
| Built | January 15, 1910[2] |
| NRHP reference No. | 71000890[1] |
| Added to NRHP | August 12, 1971 |
Buffalo Bill Dam is a concrete arch-gravity dam on the Shoshone River in the U.S. state of Wyoming. Originally 325-foot (99 m), it was the tallest dam in the world[3] when it opened in 1910; a 25-foot (7.6 m) extension was added in 1992 in one of numerous changes and improvements to the structure and its support facilities, which include two full time power generators and two seasonal operations added between 1920 and 1994, and a 2.8-mile (4.5 km) irrigation tunnel completed in 1939.
The dam is located in Shoshone Canyon, and named after the famous Wild West figure William "Buffalo Bill" Cody, who founded the nearby town of Cody and owned much of the land now covered by the reservoir formed by its construction. It is part of the Shoshone Project, successor to several visionary schemes promoted by Cody to irrigate the Bighorn Basin and turn it from a semi-arid sagebrush-covered plain to productive agricultural land.[3] Known at the time of its construction as Shoshone Dam, it was renamed in 1946 to honor Cody.[4]
The original structure was designed by engineer Daniel Webster Cole[5] and built between 1905 and 1910. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971[1] and named a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Civil Engineers in 1973.[6] The land around the reservoir is maintained as Buffalo Bill State Park.
- ^ a b "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
- ^ "Shoshone Project". United States Bureau of Reclamation. 1996. Archived from the original on June 14, 2011. Retrieved January 12, 2011.
- ^ a b "Buffalo Bill Dam". U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. Retrieved May 6, 2011.
- ^ "Shoshone Project History". U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. Archived from the original on June 14, 2011. Retrieved May 6, 2011.
- ^ "Buffalo Bill Dam History". Buffalo Bill Dam Visitor Center. Archived from the original on July 7, 2011. Retrieved May 6, 2011.
- ^ "Buffalo Bill Dam". American Society of Civil Engineers. Retrieved January 29, 2022.