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Seminoe-Alcova Scenic Backway
Sinclair, Carbon and Natrona County, Wyoming. Back Country Byway.
Details
- Where
- Sinclair, Carbon and Natrona County, WY. No street address stated. Directions
- Getting there
- Begin at the town of Sinclair, Wyo., at the junction of Interstate 80 and Carbon County Road 351, exit 219. The byway follows County Road 351 north into Natrona County and ends at Alcova, Wyo.
- Access
- Please note that there are very few services and no gas available along this route.
- Phone
- 307-328-4200
- Website
- blm.gov
- Managed by
- Rawlins Field Office.
The 64-mile Seminoe-Alcova Back Country Byway lies in south central Wyoming. As you travel, you'll pass pronghorn-grazed prairie, stark desert, and you'll climb the rugged Seminoe Mountains.
Notable Events
- 1933Seminoe Dam was part of the Kendrick Project, a federally funded plan authorized in October 1933 to expand irrigation and generate hydropower in central Wyoming; the project included dams at both Alcova and Seminoe. wyohistory.org
- 1935W. E. Callahan Construction of Texas and Gunther and Shirley of California began construction on the dam in August of 1935, one month before President Roosevelt gave final authorization for the project. wyohistory.org
- 1937The dam was finished in 1937 at a cost of $20 million; the lake was filled by 1938. wyohistory.org
- 1938The concrete arch dam, 295 feet high, was finished in December 1938. wyohistory.org
- 1939On Aug. 3, 1939, the first electricity was generated at Seminoe power plant. wyohistory.org
- 1950President Truman dedicated Kortes Dam on May 9, 1950. wyohistory.org
- 1951Kortes Dam, named for the nearby Kortes Ranch and built in the Black Canyon of the North Platte, was officially finished on Nov. 8, 1951. wyohistory.org
People
- Charles Lajeunesse, early Wyoming trader and trapper whose nickname "Simono" became the name of the Seminoe Mountains and, later, the Seminoe dam and reservoir on the byway.