Buffalo Bill Dam Day, Murals, and Rodeo

One day a year, the Buffalo Bill Dam opens the gate so the public can walk down to the bottom of the dam.  Today was the day.  It was Buffalo Bill's Great Dam Day and we planned to attend.

We arrived at the parking area and caught a golf cart shuttling people back and forth to the visitor's center.  We went inside and looked at some of the pictures of the construction.  The Buffalo Bill Dam was built between 1905 and 1910.  This dam was used as the model to build the Hoover Dam. At the time of its completion, it was the tallest dam in the world at 325 feet.

It was a cool morning and we thought we better get going to make the 1/2 mile trip to the bottom.

The dam is built in the Shoshone Valley and was part of Bill Cody's dream to be able to irrigate the valley for farmland.

So, we began our downward descent.

We got about halfway down and saw this view of the dam wall.

 Reaching the bottom, we walked along the river.

We also caught a glimpse of the highway tunnel you pass through on your way to the dam.

Another view of the dam with the power plant on the bottom right.

 Coming back up, we caught this view through one of the tunnels at the bottom.

Just after we walked through the tunnel, we caught a ride going back up on a mule (vehicle not animal).  Walking down wasn't bad, but I wasn't looking forward to walking back up and we had forgotten to pick up water before going down.


We got back up in time for the entertainment, a group headed by William Boycott singing songs of the old west.  It was pretty entertaining.

After the concert, we went back to the wall over the dam to see where we had been.

This is the view of the other side showing the reservoir.

We headed back to the rig for lunch and then headed over to the Cody Mural Visitor's Center. 

The Cody Mural covers a domed ceiling 36 feet in diameter and 18 feet to the top of the dome.  It was painted on Irish linen by Edward T. Grigware and depicts the story of the Mormon religion. We were greeted by a wonderful guide who told us the history of each panel.  It was very interesting.

Every time you would look at the picture, you would see something else in it.

The colors and details were magnificent.

Afterwards, we had time to run home, have a quick dinner, walk the dogs and head to the

The rodeo is held outdoors every night from June through August.  It began with a herd of beautiful horses running through.

We sat in the Buzzard's Roost above the chutes and got a firsthand view of the action.

The best part of the night was sitting in front of a large group of college kids from England.  I heard one of them say he was so excited to be here, that the rodeo and Nascar are the two things left that you can only see in America.  It was really funny listening to one of the girls explaining barrel racing to the group.  It's always fun to hear another perspective and listen to the excitement of viewing an event for the first time.

It was a long, but fun day.