Like a shockwave, the devastation that Wyo-Ben had previously…yet distantly…feared, instantly engulfed them. It happened over the course of two weeks during the autumn of 1982, and the swiftness of this event stunned the company. Lending institutions called in their loans as industries canceled their orders and even shut down their operations.
The Thermopolis plant, which had opened in 1979, was jarringly paused, then closed. The Lovell plant was left in limbo, though product sales fell off and became virtually non-existent. Little income came into Wyo-Ben. How could they afford to pay employees?