Pathfinder Dam Construction

The panel loses more of Fremont's records than he did. On August 24, 1842, his inflatable rubber boat, bought for the survey at $150, ran several falls in the canyon upstream that now carries his name, then struck a rock and overturned, throwing the men and nearly everything they carried into the river. The instruments went to the bottom and the chronometer was ruined. But by Fremont's own report the party recovered almost every record of the journey from the water downstream, losing one or two of his journals.

What the plaque says

Pathfinder Dam Construction Pathfinder Dam represents the earliest attempts by the United States government to develop the nation's great river basins for irrigation, water storage, power production and recreation. The Federal Reclamation Act of 1902 authorized the Reclamation Service, now the Bureau of Reclamation, to begin construction on two massive dams in Wyoming: Pathfinder on the North Platte River and Buffalo Bill Dam on the Shoshone River west of Cody. Pathfinder Dam was built between 1905 and 1909 and cost over two million dollars. It is located in a narrow canyon cut by the North Platte River through Precambrian basement rocks. It is a masonry arch structure built entirely of huge blocks quarried from the same Precambrian formations. The task of cutting, transporting and fitting the massive blocks severely tested the engineering skills of the day. Pathfinder Dam stands as a civil engineering landmark. Pathfinder Dam stands 214 feet high and measures 432 feet across its crest. The Reservoir behind it holds over a million acre-feet (an acre of water a foot deep), creating a water sports area in the high, dry central Wyoming desert. Other dams named Seminoe, Kortes, Alcova, Grey Reef, Glendo and Guernsey would follow to further control and utilize waters from the North Platte waters. Pathfinder Dam was named to honor General John C. Fremont, the "Pathfinder of the West." Returning from an 1842 mapping expedition to the Rocky Mountains, Fremont attempted to float through the raging white water canyons of the North Platte near this point. He didn't succeed and was lucky to escape with his life. Most of his priceless records were lost. Pathfinder Dam was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Independence Rock State Historic Site — 22 mi
  A granite whaleback named before the wagons came, by trappers in 1824 or Sublette in 1830, and polished by wind until it took names easily.
• Fort Caspar Museum — 26 mi
  The crossing before the fort: the Mormon ferry of 1847 and Guinard's toll bridge of 1859, rebuilt beside the 1936 log station.

More markers nearby

• The Oregon Trail — 16 mi
• Red Buttes — 17 mi
• Battle of Red Buttes — 22 mi
• Oregon Trail — 26 mi