Posted in Wyoming October 26, 2017 by

Not Many People Know The Deadly Secret This Historic Wyoming Dam Harbors

When the Buffalo Bill Dam was constructed in the early 1900s, it was one of the first concrete dams in the country to be built over 300 feet and, at the time, it was world’s tallest dam. The project was an ambitious one, requiring extensive construction through Shoshone Canyon not only on the dam, but to create an access road from Cody. While the colossal structure still stands today giving testament to American ingenuity and quality craftsmanship, it also harbors the horrifying secret that its construction cost two men their lives.

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About 8 miles west of Cody sits one of the natural wonders of Wyoming. The Shoshone Canyon is the result of about 3 million years of the Shoshone River relentlessly wearing away at the rock.
Craig Bennett/Flickr
It's where the Bureau of Reclamation chose to build a grand dam and power plant called the Shoshone Project.
Acroterion - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0/Wikipedia
Though the dam, known today as the Buffalo Bill Dam, was the focus of the project, one of the phases included building a tunnel that could route irrigation water to land north of the Shoshone River.
RobAMartin/TripAdvisor
The working conditions were dangerous and difficult. Explosives were used to blast through the granite walls of the canyon releasing toxic fumes.
Historic American Engineering Record/Library of Congress
Plus, remember that there is a lot of geothermal activity in Wyoming. That means there was a lot of hydrogen sulfide in the tunnels the workers were building.
Historic American Engineering Record/Library of Congress
The fumes from the explosives mixed with the geothermal gasses and, with poor ventilation in the tunnel, created a deadly environment. Two workers succumbed to the fumes and were killed after being struck by equipment.
Historic American Engineering Record/Library of Congress
The tunnel was completed two years later in 1939, as were a string of other tunnels along the road through Shoshone Canyon.
Erin/Flickr
Those tunnels for traveling pass under Rattlesnake Mountain and cumulatively measure over a mile long. It's the longest single combination of tunnels in the state.

What other Wyoming landmarks have chilling backstories?