Pathfinder Dam, Gravity dam in Natrona County, Wyoming, US.

Pathfinder Dam is a gravity structure made of granite blocks that spans across the North Platte River in this highland area. The structure impounds water that serves irrigation needs across a wide agricultural region in Wyoming and Nebraska.

The United States Bureau of Reclamation built this structure between 1905 and 1909 as part of water management plans for the North Platte Project. The completed dam allowed irrigation across previously limited agricultural areas in the developing region.

The dam takes its name from General John C. Frémont, who explored the area in 1842 and was nicknamed the "Pathfinder of the West." The former damkeeper's residence near the dam now holds the Pathfinder Interpretive Center, a small museum, and a suspension footbridge crosses the river below the dam.

The area around the dam is accessible and offers fishing and boating opportunities on the impounded water. The best time to visit is during warmer months when the roads are easiest to travel and water levels are typically higher.

Explosive charges were placed in the dam crest in 1909 when summer rains threatened to overtop the unfinished auxiliary dike; the dike held, and the charges were only removed by explosives experts in 1949. The damkeeper's former residence now houses the Pathfinder Interpretive Center.