Kinzua Dam
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| Kinzua Dam | |
 Kinzua Dam on the Allegheny River |
|
| Official name | Kinzua Dam |
|---|---|
| Impounds | Allegheny River |
| Creates | Allegheny Reservoir |
| Locale | Allegheny National Forest in Warren County, PA, USA |
| Maintained by | Army Corps of Engineers |
| Length | 1,897 feet (578 m) |
| Height | 179 feet (55 m) |
| Width (at base) | 1,245 feet (379 m) |
| Construction began | 1960 |
| Opening date | 1965 |
| Geographical Data | |
| Coordinates | Coordinates: |
The Kinzua Dam, in the Allegheny National Forest in Warren County, Pennsylvania, is one of the largest dams in the United States east of the Mississippi River.
The dam is located 6 miles (10 km) east of Warren, Pennsylvania along Route 59, within the 500,000-acre (2,000 km²) Allegheny National Forest. A boat marina and beach are located within the dam boundaries. In addition to providing flood control and power generation, the dam created Pennsylvania's deepest lake, the Allegheny Reservoir, also known as Kinzua Lake.
[edit] Displacements
[edit] Native Americans
Construction of the dam 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. A lawsuit against breaking the U.S. treaty which guaranteed perpetual Seneca ownership of the land had been argued by the Quakers but it lost in Federal court. In 1964, the American country singer Johnny Cash recorded the song As Long as the Grass Shall Grow (composed by the Native American folk singer Peter La Farge) about the Senecas' plight. The folk singer Buffy Sainte-Marie also mentions the Kinzua Dam in her songs "Now That the Buffalo's Gone" (recorded in 1964) and "My Country 'Tis of Thy People You're Dying" (recorded in 1966). The Seneca leader, Chief Cornplanter, was a significant figure in the French and Indian War and the American Revolution.
[edit] Boy Scouts of America
The creation of the dam also forced the displacement of Camp Olmsted, owned by the Chief Cornplanter Council of the Boy Scouts of America. The campsite had once been located on bottomland along the Allegheny River but dam construction forced it 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.[citation needed]
[edit] Construction
Authorized by the Flood Control Acts 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 2,180 square miles (5,650 km²) 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 (2,300,000 m³)
- Concrete: 500,000 cubic yards (380,000 m³)
- Penstocks (pipes through dam): Eight 5’-8” x 10’ discharge sluices and two hydroelectric penstocks, 15 feet (4.6 m) in diameter
- Hydroelectric generating capacity: 400 megawatts
- Construction Costs: $108,000,000
[edit] Seneca Pumped Storage Generating Station
Immediately above the downstream side of the dam is the Seneca Pumped Storage Generating Station, a hydroelectric power plant using pumped storage to accommodate peak electrical load by storing potential energy in water pumped into an upper reservoir by using base load electricity, then reclaiming that energy when it is needed by allowing the water to fall back down and drive generators along the way.
