Wender·Vista
Buffalo Bill Reservoir Dam
shown on ceramic, 12-inch tileWyoming
in Shoshone Canyon, west of Cody

Buffalo Bill Reservoir Dam

— — the canyon the river left to be held.

— Where it lives

Not only on a wall.

A small tile on the nightstand catching the morning. A larger one above the fire. Yours, wherever you spend the slow hours.
— On the nightstand, a 6-inch on a walnut stand
— Among the books, a 6-inch leaning into the spines
— Beside the kettle, a 12-inch propped
— Down a quiet hall, an 18-inch floating off the wall
— Above the fire, the 24-inch in a walnut surround
— a note from the studio

“A concrete arch wedged between red walls west of Cody, holding back the Shoshone before it runs out of the mountains. The road to Yellowstone's east gate threads the canyon above it, six tunnels and a long view down. When the wind comes off the reservoir the surface goes the slate-green colour the river was, only stilled. from the studio

from the studio
Buffalo Bill Reservoir Dam
— bring it home

Buffalo Bill Reservoir Dam, on ceramic.

Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.

What kind of piece?
One tile — square or rectangle.
How big?
the popular one — counter, shelf, nightstand
6 × 6 in · 15 cm · 1.6 lb
Surface finish
A clear glossy finish — the artwork reads as if under resin. Ideal for show-pieces and framed wall art.
How it sits
A hidden cleat — sits ¼″ proud of the wall.
$58
Hand-finished and shipped from our studio at the foot of the Smokies. On your wall in about ten days.
— size
6 × 6 in
15 cm
— weighs
1.6 lb
solid in the hand
— surface
ceramic, hand-finished
art rests beneath a thin glossy finish
— from
Knoxville, TN
our family studio, at the foot of the Smokies
— start a Coaster Set

Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.

— about Buffalo Bill Reservoir Dam

The place, in three passes.

A little of what's known, in case you fall down the rabbit hole — or want to go see it yourself.
— the place

Buffalo Bill Dam sits in Shoshone Canyon roughly six miles west of Cody, Wyoming, on US Highway 14/16/20, the road that climbs from the plains toward Yellowstone's East Entrance. Completed in 1910 as a Bureau of Reclamation project, the concrete arch was the tallest dam in the world at 325 feet, raised an additional 25 feet in 1993 to its current 350. The reservoir behind it holds the Shoshone River and the North Fork, drowning the canyon floor William F. Cody himself surveyed for the original Shoshone Project.

— the water

The reservoir sits near 5,400 feet, surface fluctuating with irrigation draw across the Bighorn Basin below. Water arrives milky in spring with rock sediment carried out of the Absaroka snowmelt, then settles to the slate-green colour the canyon walls throw back. The Bureau of Reclamation runs the Shoshone Project from here, watering more than 90,000 acres of farmland. Wind funnels hard through the gap between Cedar Mountain and Rattlesnake Mountain; kayakers and trout fishermen pick mornings before it builds, late afternoons after it quits.

— the visit

The Buffalo Bill Dam Visitor Center perches on the dam crest, free to enter, open seasonally May through September. A short walkway crosses the top and looks straight down 350 feet to the powerhouse and the Shoshone running out below. Six tunnels punch through the canyon walls between Cody and the dam; the road was bored in the early 1900s as part of the project. The Cody side connects to the Buffalo Bill Center of the West, five museums under one roof on Sheridan Avenue.

— where
United States · Park County, Wyoming
— elevation
1,653 m · 5,420 ft
— position
44.5083° N · 109.1842° W
— the neighborhood

What's nearby.

A handful of named places within an hour's walk or short drive. Some we've already painted; some we will.
10 km E
Cody
frontier town
72 km W
Yellowstone East Entrance
park gate
10 km E
Buffalo Bill Center of the West
museum complex
N
Buffalo Bill Reservoir Dam
Cody
Yellowstone East Entrance
Buffalo Bill Center of the West
— common questions

What people ask.

A few questions we get about Buffalo Bill Reservoir Dam — and about bringing the piece home.
— about the place

350 feet from the bedrock foundation to the crest after the 1993 raise. At its 1910 completion the original 325-foot height made it the tallest dam in the world.

Construction ran from 1905 to 1910 under the Bureau of Reclamation, part of the Shoshone Project initiated by the 1902 Reclamation Act. It was renamed for William F. Cody in 1946.

The Shoshone River, just below the confluence of its North and South Forks in Shoshone Canyon. The reservoir backs water roughly seven miles upstream toward the Absaroka Range.

About six miles west of Cody on US Highway 14/16/20, the route to Yellowstone's East Entrance. The visitor center sits directly on the dam crest with parking on either canyon wall.

Yes, the highway crosses the crest in a single lane each direction. A pedestrian walkway and visitor center allow stops; commercial trucks use the tunnels through the canyon.

William F. Cody helped survey the canyon and promoted the irrigation project that became the Shoshone Project. The dam was renamed in his honour in 1946, four decades after his Cody Canal company first staked the site.

— about the piece in your home

It travels well to people who know that road to Yellowstone or grew up in the Bighorn Basin. A Small or Medium with a studio note carries the canyon to a desk or hallway.

The slate-green water and red canyon walls hold well in Mountain-modern interiors, in Western-traditional rooms with leather and pine, and in jewel-toned Maximalist spaces. The piece grounds rather than competes.

Yes. Western-modern has moved away from cowboy kitsch toward landscape pieces with restraint. This tile reads as place, not theme, the direction designers in Jackson and Bozeman have been pushing for several seasons.

A single Large for a console or narrow wall, a 4-tile Mural for a standard sofa, a 9-tile Mural when the wall asks for a centrepiece. The canyon composition scales well across all three.

Yes. Order the Dura Satin or Matte finish for any room with steam or splash. Both are scratch-resistant and clean with a damp microfibre cloth.

A soft microfibre cloth and plain water. No solvents, no abrasive pads. The colour is infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, so the finish wears as the tile does.

Yes. Every WenderVista piece is composed in-house by Reid Wender, the curator, and hand-finished at our Knoxville studio. No licensing, no third-party stock.

— if this one stayed with you

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