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Reclaiming Ohi:yo'- Restoring the Altered Landscape of the Beautiful River
Main Menu
Welcoming
Front page for this Digital Exhibit.
The Seneca Nation of Indians
We call ourselves Onödowá'ga:' (oh-non-doh-wah!-gawh!), which means "People of the Great Hill". We are one of six other nations that collectively call ourselves Hodinöhsö:ní (hoh-dee-nonh-sonh-neeh!), meaning "People of the Longhouse".
Ohi:yo'
Ohi:yo', our Beautiful River, has always been our home and source of nourishment.
The Kinzua Dam Project
Our elders fought for our land and sovereignty in the 1950s and 1960s. They fought to stop the construction of Kinzua Dam.
The Allegheny Reservoir
The reservoir has altered the landscape, ecosystem, and our interactions with Ohi:yo.
The Allegheny Reservoir: A Visual Depiction of Water Levels
At times of water storage the water depth of the river channel is approximately 26 feet, with as little as 6 to 8 feet of water during the winter months.
The Significance of Kinzua to our Seneca People
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in collaboration with the U.S. federal government built Kinzua Dam between 1960 and 1965.
Kinzua Era Timelines
This page provides two different temporal representations of the Kinzua Era (1956-1966).
Kinzua Dam's Environmental Impacts
The creation of Kinzua Dam has had lasting environmental impacts on our land and water. Learn more here.
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.
Seneca Nation Fish and Wildlife Department
The Nation's Fish and Wildlife Department engages in restoration and resiliency projects related to Ohi:yo'.
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'.
A Legacy of Resilience
We will continue on.
Access and Use Rights
For our full statement on rights and use of our exhibit contents see this page.
Additional Resources
This page contains additional resources that can provide more in-depth information that is perhaps not included within our exhibit.
About this Exhibit
This page contains information about our intra-Nation departmental collaborations and exhibit acknowledgements.
The Seneca-Iroquois National Museum
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Dana Reijerkerk
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This exhibit was published by the Seneca-Iroquois National Museum, 2018.
Walter Taylor, George Heron
1 2018-07-20T15:08:23-07:00 Dana Reijerkerk 3c44fb85ab096c2290175e81dd4f16f0002a41e0 30861 7 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 (Jimersontown and Steamburg) that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers created. plain 2018-08-22T19:05:46-07:00 Dana Reijerkerk 3c44fb85ab096c2290175e81dd4f16f0002a41e0This page has tags:
- 1 2018-07-18T17:15:01-07:00 Dana Reijerkerk 3c44fb85ab096c2290175e81dd4f16f0002a41e0 The Legal Battle for Kinzua Dana Reijerkerk 22 plain 777129 2018-08-24T15:51:44-07:00 Dana Reijerkerk 3c44fb85ab096c2290175e81dd4f16f0002a41e0
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The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
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The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in collaboration with the U.S. federal government built Kinzua Dam between 1960 and 1965.
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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.
