This site requires Javascript to be turned on. Please enable Javascript and reload the page.

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'.

Walter Taylor, George Heron

Walter Taylor, the national representative of the American Indian Program of the American Friends Service Committee, a Society of Friends organization, is speaking with George Heron (SNI President 1958-1960, 1962-1964) in front of two of the proposed resettlement area maps for displaced Seneca families (Jimerson Town and Steamburg) that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers created. Between May 1961 and January of 1962 the Seneca Nation of Indians and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers negotiated the individual landowner boundary lines of the "take" areas on the Army Corps proposed resettlement maps.

This page has tags:

Contents of this tag:
1. The President John F. Kennedy Letter (pg 1 of 2) Seneca Nation Presidents', beginning with Cornelius Seneca (1956-1958), began writing to public officials in Pennsylvania, New York, and even the President of the United States in an effort to stop the construction of Kinzua Dam. In a letter from U.S. President John F. Kennedy, Kennedy declares that he will not halt the construction of Kinzua Dam. President Kennedy's reasoning, like many who supported building the dam, argued that national U.S. interests superceded that of our Seneca people. President Kennedy's remarks and stance on the issue were not unusual for this time period.
2. Walter Taylor, George Heron Walter Taylor, the national representative of the American Indian Program of the American Friends Service Committee, a Society of Friends organization, is speaking with George Heron (SNI President 1958-1960, 1962-1964) in front of two of the proposed resettlement area maps for displaced Seneca families (Jimerson Town and Steamburg) that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers created. Between May 1961 and January of 1962 the Seneca Nation of Indians and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers negotiated the individual landowner boundary lines of the "take" areas on the Army Corps proposed resettlement maps.
3. "Critic at Large: The Senecas Being Forced From Their Lands are Bitter with Good Cause"
4. President Cornelius Seneca Public Outreach Letter (pg 1 of 4)
5. "Second Look at Kinzua" Editorial
6. "Kinzua Dam Upheld: Suggested Alternative is Declared Economically Impractical"
7. Robert Haines Reply, Kinzua Project of the Indian Committee, 1963 Throughout the Kinzua Era, and evidenced in many of our other exhibit materials, responses to previously published statements were a popular form of communicating where one stood on the issue.This letter that would have been given out at the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of Friends shows our relationship with the Quakers. The referenced Kinzua Planning Newsletter was created in conjunction with the Society of Friends and the Seneca Nation to keep our Seneca communities but also the American public updated on what was happening.
8. Kinzua Project of the Indian Comittee Report, 1963 The Indian Committee of the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of Friends (a Society of Friends organization) worked with the Seneca Nation to prevent the construction of the dam. In December of 1962 when it became clear the U.S. court system would not help us, we began focusing our efforts on relocating our communities that would be inundated as part of the Allegany Reservoir. We quickly needed to prepare new houses, churches, schools- entire communities for our people who were being relocated.

This page is referenced by:

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.