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Reclaiming Ohi:yo'- Restoring the Altered Landscape of the Beautiful River Ohi:yo' Restoration and Resiliency Projects Members of the Seneca Nation's Watershed Resources Working Group are involved in various restoration and resiliency projects for our Ohi:yo'. The Seneca Nation's Fish and Wildlife Department in particular engages in projects related to building artificial habitat, repopulating our river's Walleye population, and building trenches to help land locked fish. Fighting for the Water: Fracking Wastewater in Ohi:yo' In 2016 the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PA DEP) began deliberating a 1,000-barrel/day of unconventional gas drilling wastewater (Frack Wastewater) disposal facility in Potter County proposed by Epiphany Allegheny LLC. In response to the news of these fracking plans, our Seneca people again fought for our people, our communities, and our Ohi:yo'.

Footnote 9

In 1928 the U.S. Army of Engineers was first considering building a dam on Ohi:yo'. Since 1902, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania experienced severe floods that led to major infrastructural damage to the city, especially to the factory and business district that was situated along our river. In 1908 Pittsburgh established the Flood Commission of Pittsburgh, which was made up of influential local business men, and their group worked throughout the next decades to lobby Congress to build a series of reservoirs in the upper Allegany Valley along where our Ohi:yo' and the Monongahela river meet to form the Ohio.

In 1936 Congress passed the Copeland Omnibus Flood Control Act, which had a provision to build that series of nine reservoirs along the upper portion of the Allegany Valley in addition to wording that designated the Army Corps of Engineers (U.S.A.C.E) as the U.S. federal government's official contractors of public work project.

In 1938 construction began on the nine reservoirs allocated in the Copeland Act. Construction of Kinzua Dam, which was part of the original series of nine, was postponed when our Seneca people voiced our opposition. Construction was effectively stalled when World War II forced the U.S.A.C.E to focus on the war efforts.

After WWII, Pittsburgh big business revived the original plan involving the series of nine reservoirs, which at this point in time only had one reservoir left to build: the Allegheny.

For additional information see "Dam Building and Treaty Breaking: The Kinzua Dam Controversy, 1936-1958", Paul C. Rosier, The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, vol. 119, no. 4 (Oct. 1995), pp. 342-368, http://www.jstor.org/stable/20092990

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The Kinzua Dam Project On April 14th, 1958 the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers could take our land to build Kinzua Dam, a proposed flood control project originating in the 1930s, in Warren, Pennsylvania.

For the next four years, the Seneca Nation and our Seneca people fought to prevent the dam from being built. Its construction would mean the taking and subsequent flooding of our Seneca communities in our Allegany Territory.
What Kind of Dam is it?
Kinzua Dam is a combination concrete gravity structure and rolled-earth embankment dam. Between October 15, 1960 and September 29, 1961, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers built the two rolled-earth embankments that sat on either side of the concrete gravity structure. The earth embankments alone were made up of over one-half million yards of earth.

The construction of Kinzua Dam in Warren, Pennsylvania was completed in December of 1965.

On June 3rd, 2017, a local news station, WGRZ-TV, reported on the history of the Kinzua Dam and the Seneca Nation. View that coverage here: https://youtu.be/ToGeLwIaP9w.

For more information about Kinzua Dam's construction, see the Additional Resources page.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Constructing Kinzua Dam involved much more than the dam itself. The take area for the Allegheny Reservoir was land that fell below the 1365 elevation line.

Our Seneca people living on the Seneca Nation's Allegany Territory were not the only Seneca people directly affected by building the dam. The Cornplanter Grant located in Pennsylvania was also inundated, leaving Chief Cornplanter's heirs without their communities, their homes, and their land.

In addition to directly affecting our Seneca people, the take area also included seven non-Native communities, such as the village of Corydon. Residents of those communities were also forced to relocate.

The Army Corps of Engineers was involved in the planning, building, and operating of Kinzua Dam. Today the Army Corps is still in charge of the dam's operations. For more information on the history of the plan to build Kinzua Dam see here. For more information on the Kinzua Dam, view the Kinzua Dam Project page.

Constructing Kinzua Dam
On April 14th, 1958 the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began preparing our land for construction of Kinzua Dam after the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia rules that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers could take our land to build the dam.

Actual construction of the dam began in October of 1960.

For more information on the events of the relocation of our Seneca communities from our Allegany Territory, visit the Seneca-Iroquois National Museum or the Additional Resources page.

Army Corps of Engineers and Resettlement
Between April and September of 1961, the Army Corps surveyed and mapped our lands. This survey was to map the flowage and clearing easements of the Allegheny Reservoir. From this survey, the Army Corps drew up maps of our land that they were taking for the reservoir and of the proposed resettlement areas, Jimersontown and Steamburg.

In May of 1961 the Army Corps and the Seneca Nation began negotiating the individual land owner boundaries of those maps.
The Army Corps of Engineers Stance on Kinzua Dam
The following is an official publication of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers regarding their stance on Kinzua Dam and the Allegheny Reservoir. It was published in October of 1963, three years after construction of the dam had begun.