WYOMING

Crook County
MCKEAN ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE
     Moorcroft vicinity
     National Register 4/01/1991
The McKean Site has yielded important information from as far back as 5000 years ago up to as recent as 150 years ago. This multi-component stratified site is most widely known for knowledge gained about the Middle Plains Archaic Period (ca. 5000 to 3000 years ago). Based on the archaeological evidence, a major activity at the site during this period appears to have been the large-scale processing of plant and animal foods. The McKean Site is also significant in the development of professional archaeology in the Northwest Plains as well as the adjacent regions.   First excavated in the early 1950's by the Smithsonian Institution, the site has been the subject of debate and study in subsequent years.  

Natrona County
PATHFINDER DAM
      45 miles Southwest of Casper on North Platte River
      National Register 8/12/1971
Pathfinder Dam is a key feature of the North Platte Project, one of the first five projects authorized for construction following passage of the Reclamation Act of 1902. Built between 1905 and 1909, the storage dam is a masonry arch gravity structure made from enormous blocks of granite that were quarried from nearby hills. The dam stands 214 feet high. The design of the arch dam is notable for being the first one analyzed using a scientific process known as the arch-and-crown cantilever method (predecessor to the trial-load method).  Construction of the dam was an engineering feat given its size, the difficulty of hauling materials from the nearest railhead 47 miles away, and the challenge of maintaining a labor force in this remote area.   

Park County
BUFFALO BILL DAM
      On Shoshone River 7 miles west of Cody
      National Register 8/12/1971
When completed by the Bureau of Reclamation in 1910, 325-foot-high Buffalo Bill Dam stood as the highest dam in the world. The concrete arch structure was a major engineering achievement at the time. It was one of the first dams whose design was based on exacting scientific analysis. Prior to this, the analysis of arch dam designs was only an approximation, which required the use of large factors of safety and much dependence on experience. Buffalo Bill Dam is also significant as the first dam to be built of mass concrete with a large percentage of irregularly-shaped rocks placed in the concrete.  

Buffalo Bill Dam
Buffalo Bill Dam

COLTER'S HELL
      West of Cody on U.S. 14
      National Register 8/14/1973  
Colter's Hell bears the name of the famed western mountain man and explorer John Colter, who is perhaps best known for being the first Euro-American to discover Yellowstone National Park. On that journey in the winter of 1807-1808, Colter also became the first white man that can definitely be identified as having entered the present state of Wyoming. It is known for certain that he reached the place on the edge of present day Cody called Colter's Hell which bears his name.   It is today a region of almost extinct geysers, but in its day, would have been an impressive sight. The Bureau of Reclamation owns part of the land within the Colter's Hell National Register District.

HAYDEN ARCH BRIDGE
      Spans Shoshone River about 2.5 miles west of Cody on old US 14/16
      National Register 2/22/1985
      Vehicular Truss and Arch Bridges in Wyoming Thematic Resource nomination
Constructed in 1925, the Hayden Arch Bridge is a single-span reinforced concrete arch bridge, with two smaller arch approach spans, a concrete deck, and roadway width of 20 feet. The bridge also features concrete railings with round arch balustrades. Named for Wyoming Highway Department engineer C.E. Hayden, the bridge was probably designed by J. F. Seiler, whose initials appear on the drawings. The only example of its type in Wyoming, the bridge is one of the state's most significant vehicular bridges.

HEART MOUNTAIN RELOCATION CENTER 
    Off US Alt. 14 near Powell
    National Historic Landmark 9/20/2006
On September 20, 2006, the Secretary of the Interior signed and approved the National Historic Landmark nomination for the Heart Mountain Relocation Center near Powell, Wyoming.  The site is nationally significant as one of 10 camps that housed Japanese Americans from 1942 to 1945 following their forced removal from the West Coast by military authorities.  At the time, the “evacuation” of Japanese Americans was justified on the basis of “military necessity” in the months following Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor and due to the professed inability of the military to gauge the loyalty of individual Japanese Americans.

The Heart Mountain Relocation Center district encompasses 123.93 acres of land, which includes 73.93 acres owned by the Bureau of Reclamation and 50 acres owned by the Heart Mountain, Wyoming Foundation.  Of the hundreds of buildings that were hastily constructed at Heart Mountain in 1942, only four remain standing. These include the hospital boiler house and associated smokestack, a hospital warehouse, a hospital mess hall, and an administrative staff housing unit.  Land administered by Reclamation includes the original hospital complex and a portion of the administrative complex that contains a reconstruction of the Honor Roll memorial built by internees shortly before the camp closed to commemorate the interned Japanese who died serving the United States during World War II.   

Platte County
LAKE GUERNSEY STATE PARK       
      One mile northwest of Guernsey
      National Register 8/26/1980
      National Historic Landmark, 9/25/1997
Lake Guernsey State Park is located on the shores of Lake Guernsey , a reservoir created by the Bureau of Reclamation in the late 1920s as part of the North Platte Project. The park was developed beginning in 1934 as a joint effort among the Bureau of Reclamation, the National Park Service, and the Civilian Conservation Corps. Features include a lakeshore drive and skyline drive, an exceptional group of overlook and picnic shelters, extensive trails, and a handsome museum. All of the structures share a unified architectural inspiration, the use of common materials, and a superb quality of craftsmanship. Building materials consist primarily of rough cut stone and heavy timbers. Structures exemplify the use of the "rustic" style of architecture. Overall the park retains excellent integrity to the historic period of its development.   Upon completion, the park became a showplace of state park design in Wyoming, and one of the most important early examples of recreational development around a Bureau of Reclamation reservoir in the West.

Lake Guernsey State Park        Lake Guernsey Picnic Shelter
    Lake Guernsey Museum                 Lake Guernsey Picnic Area

Hoover Dam Floor Design

Return to National Register Properties Map

Return to CRM Homepage

 

Last Updated: 7/24/15