Denver Post Archives

JAN 7 1950, JAN 10 1950 The Wyoming countryside was shaken for miles around when the switch was thrown to set off the explosion pictured above. In a single giant blast, 70,000 pounds of dynamite - two freight carloads-tore into a frozen rock bank beside the Big Horn river about twenty miles upstream from Thermopolis, Wyo. It was another step forward in construction of the bureau of reclamation's Boysen dam, which is being built as a combination power, irrigation, flood control and silt retention project. Purpose of the blast was to obtain fill material for the 230-foot-high dam. The new unit in the Missouri basin program will be completed in 1951 under the present timetable. A recreational development planned in the area - at the mouth of scenic Wind River canyon. Credit: The Denver Post (Denver Post via Getty Images)