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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. This exhibit was published by the Seneca-Iroquois National Museum, 2018.

The President John F. Kennedy Letter (pg 1 of 2)

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This page has tags:

The Legal Battle for Kinzua Dana Reijerkerk
Contents of this tag:
1. The President John F. Kennedy Letter (pg 1 of 2)
2. Walter Taylor, George Heron
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
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.
Reaching out to the American Public Dana Reijerkerk
Contents of this tag:
1. Cornplanter Grant Visit, Stop at Kinzua Dam Members of the Seneca Nation, Society of Friends, and Congress stopped at the construction site of Kinzua Dam on their way to the Cornplanter Grant on September 15, 1962. Identified in the photograph, Front to back, right to left: Harry Watt (center), Myra Watt, Fred Claflin, Gert Claflin, Darla Claflin, Butch Claflin, Walter Jimerson, Dorothy Jimerson, Gordon Jimerson, Ron Jimerson, Effie Johnson, and Boyd Johnson.
2. The President John F. Kennedy Letter (pg 1 of 2)
3. Kinzua Vigil, 1961
4. "Seneca Ceremony Mourns Land Taken by U.S. Despite Treaty" (Page 1 of 2) News article from The New York TImes reporting on the gathering of our Seneca people, members of the Society of Friends, and Congress at the Cornplanter Grant on September 15, 1962. In Johnny Cash's song, "As Long as the Grass Shall Grow", his lines "The treaties are safe we'll keep our word but what is that gurgling/ It's the back water from Perfidy Lake it's rising all the time" reference events depicted in this news article.
5. Merrill Bowen Letter to JFK The Seneca people living on the Seneca Nation's Allegany Territory were not the only ones directly affected by building Kinzua. The Cornplanter Grant located in Pennsylvania was also inundated, leaving Chief Cornplanter's heirs without their communities, their homes, and their land. In a letter to President John F. Kennedy, Merrill Bowen, the Cornplanter Indian Landowners Corporation President, appealed for help relocating the Cornplanter Cemetery and Monument.
6. "Critic at Large: The Senecas Being Forced From Their Lands are Bitter with Good Cause"
7. "Tourist Approach to the Kinzua Dam"
8. "Pittsburgh a Key to Senecas' Fight: City Presses Bid for Dam on Reservation Lands-Cities Flood Danger"
9. President Cornelius Seneca Public Outreach Letter (pg 1 of 4)
10. "Second Look at Kinzua" Editorial
11. "Kinzua Dam Upheld: Suggested Alternative is Declared Economically Impractical"
12. "Seneca Indian Area Becoming a Happy Tourist Ground"
13. "Kinzua Dam Protested: Morality of Flooding Seneca Indians Land is Questioned"
14. NCAI President's Reply to "Second Look at Kinzua"
15. Memo to SNI President George Heron from Arthur Lasarus, Jr.
16. George D. Heron Speech, Nov. 22, 1963 (1 of 4)
17. "Quaker Booklet Urges Quick Action on Seneca Indian Bill"
18. Robert Haines Reply, Kinzua Project of the Indian Committee, 1963
19. Senator Joseph S. Clark's Editorial Response
20. 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.
21. Senator Robert Haines Becoming an Honorary Seneca
22. Last-Ditch Protest on Dam Launched by 16 Quakers

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Second Look at Kinzua: The Morality of Building Kinzua Dam
There are two sides to every story. The take area for the Allegheny Reservoir was land that fell below the 1365 elevation line. Our Seneca people living on the Cornplanter Grant and the Seneca Nation's Allegany Territory and several non-Native communities, such as the village of Corydon were forced to relocate.

No one questions the desirability of a project intended to end the disastrous floods on the upper Allegheny River. But it is open to serious question whether the only way in which the Corps of Engineers can achieve this end is by dishonoring a treaty with the Seneca Indians signed in 1794 by George Washington-the oldest treaty, incidentally, to which the United States is a party and which is still in force.
- "Second Look at Kinzua", January 24, 1960

Impounding of the funds appropriated by the Congress after long and exhaustive Congressional review, and after resolution by our judicial process of the legal right of the Federal Government to acquire the property necessary to the construction of the reservoir, would not be proper.
-President John F. Kennedy, August 9, 1961
Our home no longer belongs to us. It is the sole property of the Army Corps of Engineers. We are merely living in it because we have no other place to go. There is no money for us to put into a new home. We have just eight months left. Eight months to say good-bye to home, valley and a heritage I've known for eighteen years. How much harder it must be for those having to say good-by to generations of living, growing and dying inherited by a plot of ground called home.
-Brooks Atkinson, February 25, 1964

Again according to reliable professional information, Kinzua Dam will not give Pittsburgh and other communities down the Allegany River protection from flood control. Our information is that Kinzua Dam is wanted in order to wash industrial plant waste down the river; competent engineers assert that what is needed is a good job of cleaning up the stream. Congressman Gavin has admitted that what the proponents of the Dam want is really more water in the river.
-Clarence Wesley, January 28, 1960
Five alternative proposals have been found to be engineeringly sound but more costly than the authorized project. The sixth proposal, the Committee commented, "does not provide a solution to the water resource development problems of the Allegheny River Basin that compares favorably with the authorized plan." In addition, it would raise new problems, such as flooding of the Conewango watershed, a valuable agricultural area, and the complication of international jurisdiction.
-Senator Joseph S. Clark, January 30, 1960
Completion of the 179-foot high dam, the largest in Pennsylvania, is schedules for 1965. The man-made lake will extend north to Salamanca, N.Y., and will inundate 9,000 acres or two-thirds of the usable land on the New York reservation of the Seneca nation of Indians. The project will displace more than 1,000 white persons and some 550 Indians.
-William G. Weart, August 13, 1961
Does a sovereign nation have the right of eminent domain in a situation in which it has made a treaty that it will not exercise that right? Of course it is legal for the sovereign Government of the United States to break every treaty it ever agreed to, but it would not be ethical, and it would not improve our international relations.
-Theodore B. Hetzel, November 3, 1959
President to President Correspondence
Seneca Nation Presidents during the Kinzua Era (1956-1966) were involved in a public media campaign to stop the loss of our lands. Seneca Nation President Basil Williams wrote to U.S. President John F. Kennedy. President Kennedy wrote back on August 9th, 1961. This is his reply.

The Merrill Bowen Letter
The Seneca people living on the Seneca Nation's Allegany Territory were not the only ones directly affected by building Kinzua. The Cornplanter Grant located in Pennsylvania was also inundated, leaving Chief Cornplanter's heirs without their communities, their homes, their land. In 1963, Merrill Bowen, the Cornplanter Indian Landowners Corporation, wrote a public appeal to President Kennedy asking for help relocating the Cornplanter Cemetery and Monument.

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This page is referenced by:

The Merrill Bowen Letter