Challenging the Canyon: A Family Man Builds A Dam

By Beryl Gail Churchill

Book Information

  • $24.95 paperback<
  • 110 pages, 11×8.5 inches
  • 131 black and white photographs and maps
  • Published May 2024
  • ISBN: 978-1-7334897-4-4
  • 3rd edition with new forward
  • Order from a bookseller near you, or purchase your copy here:

 

Challenging the Canyon: A Family Man Builds a Dam is a captivating account drawn from the on-the-job letters penned by D.W. Cole, the chief engineer overseeing the construction of the Shoshone Dam (now named the Buffalo Bill Dam) near Cody, Wyoming between 1904 and 1910. These letters, discovered years later, offer a priceless glimpse into Cole’s daily challenges and triumphs as he worked on this monumental project. Equally invaluable are the letters from Cole’s family, who resided with him at the job site for much of the construction period.

The Buffalo Bill Dam, a monumental construction endeavor completed over a century ago, with a major modification completed in 1994, continues to provide life-giving water to the communities and agriculture in the Big Horn Basin of northwest Wyoming. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is a National Civil Engineering Landmark.

This remarkable feat of engineering stands as a testament to human ingenuity and offers a personal perspective on the turn-of-the-century American West. We hope you enjoy this third edition and the unique story of the Buffalo Bill Dam, once the highest dam in the world.

About the author

Beryl Churchill was born and raised in Cody, Wyoming. She moved down the road 23 miles when she fell in love with a Powell farmer more than 60 years ago. She is an active partner on the farm along with her husband and sons, the fourth generation of Churchills who have farmed the home place.

Beryl Churchill is author of Dams, Ditches and Water, a history of the Shoshone Project, The Dam Book, a history of the construction of the dams on the project, and People Working Together, a 75th anniversary celebration of Powell, Wyoming. She is co-author with Robert Bonner, of Home in the Valley, Powell’s First Century.

Beryl was project director for the Land, Water and People wayside educational exhibits that interpreted 10 significant sites on the Shoshone Project. She is a former member of the Wyoming Water Development Commission and the Board of Park County Commissioners.

Reviews:

“In  Challenging the Canyon, Beryl Churchill offers a gracefully written and wonderfully illustrated account of the building of Shoshone Dam. Drawing upon a rich resource of letters long held by the family of D. W. Cole, she weaves a plain-spoken yet eloquent tale of Cole’s involvement—both personally and professionally—in the dam’s construction from 1904 through 1910. The key strength of the book lies in the ability of its author to humanize the process of dam building and irrigation development during a key period in the economic growth of the American West. The harshness of a Wyoming winter is perhaps easy for an author to assert; Churchill makes it something that the reader feels. Even the most knowledgeable reader familiar with the history of western water development will find that this book brings across insights in unique and compelling ways. Just as importantly, readers interested in the human and social development of the American West will also find it contains ­wonderful insights. This is more than another dam book.  It’s a dam fine book.”

— Donald C. Jackson, author of  Building the Ultimate Dam and Great American Bridges and Dams

“...a wonderful balance of factual information, photographs and personal accounts related to the building of the Shoshone Dam. D.W. Cole’s letters add a personal touch that gives the reader a deeper understanding of the people involved and the ­extraordinary effort put in the dam project.”

— Gretchen Heinrich, Youth and Family Program Director, Buffalo Bill Historical Center, Cody, Wyoming.