Kinzua Dam

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Kinzua Dam on the Allegheny River. View is upriver to the southeast.
Kinzua Dam on the Allegheny River. View is upriver to the southeast.
Kinzua Dam on the Allegheny River. The Seneca pumped storage reservoir can be seen on the left. View is downriver to the west.
Kinzua Dam on the Allegheny River. The Seneca pumped storage reservoir can be seen on the left. View is downriver to the west.
The Allegheny Reservoir upriver from the Kinzua Dam. Pennsylvania State Route 59 crosses the reservoir on a bridge. View is upriver to the north-northwest.
The Allegheny Reservoir upriver from the Kinzua Dam. Pennsylvania State Route 59 crosses the reservoir on a bridge. View is upriver to the north-northwest.

Kinzua Dam is one of the largest dams in the United States east of the Mississippi River. Its construction in the 1960s was controversial because it forced the departure of Pennsylvania's last Native Americans, the Senecas, who now live near Salamanca, New York, on the northern shores of land flooded by the dam. In addition to flood control and power generation, the dam created Pennsylvania's deepest lake, the Allegheny Reservoir, which is also known as Kinzua Lake.

A lawsuit against breaking the U.S. treaty which guaranteed perpetual Seneca ownership of the land had been argued by the Society of Friends (Quakers) but it lost in Federal Court. The American country western singer, Johnny Cash, sang the song "As Long as the Grass Shall Grow" about the plight of the Seneca Indians, whose leader, Chief Cornplanter, was a significant figure in the French and Indian War and the American Revolution.

The creation of the dam also forced the displacement of the Boy Scout Camp Olmsted, owned by the Chief Cornplanter Council. The camp had once been located along the Allegheny River bottom but had to be moved up the hillside some distance. The once-nearly flat camp now has one of the steepest grades of any Boy Scout Camp in America.

Authorized by the Flood Control Ats of 1936, 1938, and 1941, actual construction on the dam was begun by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 1960 and completed in 1965. The main purpose of the dam is flood control on the Allegheny and Ohio rivers. This dam controls drainage on a watershed of 2180 square miles or an area twice the size of the state of Rhode Island. Side benefits derived from the dam include drought control, hydroelectric power production and recreation.

The total cost of construction was approximately $108 million. According to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Kinzua more than paid for itself in 1972 when tropical storm Agnes dumped continual heavy rains on the watershed, bringing the reservoir to within three feet of its maximum storage capacity. Over $247 million in downstream damages were prevented.

[edit] Engineering data

  • Length of dam: 1,897 feet (578 m)
  • Maximum height of dam: 179 feet (55 m)
  • Earthfill: 3,000,000 cubic yards (2,293,635 m³)
  • Concrete: 500,000 cubic yards (382,272 m³)
  • Penstocks (pipes through dam), diameter: 19 feet (5.8 m)

The nearest city to the dam is Warren, Pennsylvania. Situated six miles east of the city on Route 59, it is open for public tours (closed since 9/11/2001 for "national security"). It is located within the 500,000 acre (2000 km²) Allegheny National Forest in northwestern Pennsylvania. A boat marina and beach are located nearby.

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../k/i/n/Kinzua_Dam_a606.html"