| Originally called the Shoshone Dam and Shoshone Reservoir because of its location on the Shoshone River. (WSL) "The Shoshone project, on which the newly named Buffalo Bill Dam and reservoir are located, was named after the range of mountains and the river which is the source of water for the project. However, the Indians originally gave the river the unattractive name of "Stinking Water" because of the sulphur springs near the mouth of Shoshone Canyon. The Wyoming Legislature, on February 14, 1901, officially fixed the name as Shoshone, after the Shoshoni tribe of Indians. Six weeks later the Board of Geographical Names in the Department of the Interior adopted the name as fixed by the legislature. The reason for changing the last letter of the name from "i" to "e" is not known." ("Speaking of Names" in The Reclamation Era, June 1946, p. 136) On March 11, 1946 the following resolution was approved: Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That in commemoration of the one hundredth anniversary of the birth on February 26, 1846, of William Frederick Cody, better known as Buffalo Bill, the name of the Shoshone Dam and Reservoir in Park County, Wyoming, is changed effective February 26, 1946, to the "Buffalo Bill Dam and Reservoir". (United States Statutes 60 Stat. 54) |
