A local legend of interest concerns a cache of gold that was reportedly buried in the vicinity of the dam.

In 1850, five men were returning to Missouri from California with fourteen bars of gold. In the vicinity of the present dam, they were attacked by Cheyenne-Arapaho Indians, 3 of the men being killed.

The two remaining men wrapped the gold in a buffalo calf skin and buried it, marking the spot with an end-gate rod from their wagon. At least one of the men survived, since in 1901 Carl Sheldon arrived in the area with a map showing the location of the buried gold. Mr. Sheldon continued to search for the gold until 1940 when he was forced to leave because of the dam construction.

In 1904, Sheldon had samples of the material from the drill bit assayed and traces of gold and the hide reportedly were found. Due to the shaft cave-ins and movement by underlying quicksand, this was the closest Sheldon came to finding the gold.