Allegheny Reservoir | |
---|---|
Location | Pennsylvania and New York |
Coordinates | 41°50′16″N79°00′14″W / 41.83778°N 79.00389°W |
Type | Reservoir |
Basin countries | United States |
Max. length | 24 mi (39 km) |
Surface area | 12,000 acres (49 km2) |
The Allegheny Reservoir (also known as Kinzua Lake and unofficially as Lake Perfidy) is a reservoir along the Allegheny River in Pennsylvania and New York, USA. It was created in 1965 by the construction of the Kinzua Dam along the river. Lake Perfidy comes from Peter La Farge's ballad "As Long as the Grass Shall Grow," recorded by Johnny Cash on his album Bitter Tears: Ballads of the American Indian , which alleged that the reservoir's existence violates the 1794 agreement between Seneca chief Cornplanter and George Washington.
The Allegheny Reservoir is a man-made lake created along the Allegheny River with the construction of the Kinzua Dam in 1965. The dam was authorized by the United States Congress as a flood control measure in the Flood Control Acts of 1936 and 1938, and was built by the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers beginning in 1960. Other benefits from the dam include drought control, hydroelectric power production, and recreation. [1] [2] The lake and the dam are operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The construction of the lake and dam cost $108 million and (along with the concurrent construction of the Southern Tier Expressway) destroyed the hamlets of Kinzua, Sugar Run, Cornplanter (Indian Reservation) and Corydon in Pennsylvania, and the hamlets of Onoville, Quaker Bridge, Cold Spring and Red House in New York, led to the dissolution of the Pennsylvania townships of Kinzua and West Corydon, and the New York town of Elko, and flooded some of the lands of the Seneca Nation. The residents in these areas were forced to move. [1] [3] The area is unique because very little private development exists along the reservoir. [4]
The Allegheny Reservoir is surrounded by the Allegheny National Forest in Pennsylvania and Allegany State Park and the Seneca Nation's Allegany Reservation in New York. The man-made lake is about 198 miles (319 km) above the mouth of the river in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and located within Warren and McKean counties in Pennsylvania and Cattaraugus County and the Allegany Reservation in New York. The reservoir is 24 miles (39 km) long and at full pool, it covers 33.09 square miles, or 21,180 acres (85.7 km2). [1] [3] [5] The undammed end of the reservoir reaches near the city of Salamanca. Much of Allegheny National Recreation Area surrounds the reservoir. [6]
The Allegheny River is a 325-mile-long (523 km) headwater stream of the Ohio River that is located in western Pennsylvania and New York in the United States. It runs from its headwaters just below the middle of Pennsylvania's northern border, northwesterly into New York, then in a zigzag southwesterly across the border and through Western Pennsylvania to join the Monongahela River at the Forks of the Ohio at Point State Park in Downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Coldspring is a town in Cattaraugus County, New York, United States. As of the 2020 census it had a population of 661. It is located in the southwest part of the county, west of the city of Salamanca.
Red House is a town in Cattaraugus County, New York, United States. As of the 2020 census, the town population was 30, making it the least populous town in the state. The town is on the south edge of Cattaraugus County, south of the city of Salamanca.
South Valley is a town in Cattaraugus County, New York, United States. The population was 250 at the 2020 census. The name is derived from the town's geographical attributes.
Allegany Reservation is a Seneca Nation of Indians reservation in Cattaraugus County, New York, U.S. In the 2000 census, 58 percent of the population within the reservation boundaries were Native Americans. Some 42% were European Americans; they occupy properties under leases from the Seneca Nation, a federally recognized tribe. The population outside of the rented towns was 1,020 at the 2010 census. The reservation's Native American residents are primarily members of the Seneca, but a smaller number of Cayuga, another Iroquois nation, also reside there, and at least one family is known to have descended from the Neutral Nation. Prior to the 17th century, this area was occupied by the Iroquoian-speaking Wenrohronon and Eriehronon. The more powerful Seneca eliminated these competing groups during the Beaver Wars beginning in 1638, as the Iroquois Confederacy sought to control the lucrative fur trade with the French and Dutch colonists.
John Abeel III known as Gaiänt'wakê or Kaiiontwa'kon in the Seneca language and thus generally known as Cornplanter, was a Dutch-Seneca chief warrior and diplomat of the Seneca people. As a war chief, Cornplanter fought in the American Revolutionary War on the side of the British. After the war Cornplanter led negotiations with the United States and was a signatory of the Treaty of Fort Stanwix (1784), the Treaty of Canandaigua (1794), and other treaties. He helped ensure Seneca neutrality during the Northwest Indian War.
Guyasuta was an important Native American leader of the Seneca people in the second half of the eighteenth century, playing a central role in the diplomacy and warfare of that era. At young age, he and his family migrated along the Allegheny River and finally settled in Logstown, an Iroquois village in Pennsylvania. The paternal half of his ancestry were decorated warriors.
The Kinzua Dam, on the Allegheny River in Warren County, Pennsylvania, is one of the largest dams in the United States east of the Mississippi River. It is located within the Allegheny National Forest.
New York State Route 280 (NY 280) is an 11.59-mile (18.65 km) long north–south state highway in rural Cattaraugus County, New York, in the United States. The southern terminus of the route is at the Pennsylvania state line in South Valley, where it becomes Pennsylvania Route 346 (PA 346). The northern terminus is at exit 18 on the Southern Tier Expressway in Coldspring, west of Salamanca. NY 280 follows both the eastern edge of the Allegheny Reservoir and the western boundary of Allegany State Park for its entire length.
Pennsylvania Route 59 is a 39-mile (63 km) long state highway located in northwest Pennsylvania. The route links Warren to Smethport, terminating at U.S. Route 6 at both ends. PA 59 acts as a northerly bypass to US 6, directly connecting Warren and Smethport while US 6 dips south to serve Kane and Mount Jewett.
Kinzua Creek is a 26.5-mile (42.6 km) tributary of the Allegheny River that is located in McKean County, Pennsylvania in the United States.
The Seneca Pumped Storage Generating Station is a hydroelectric power plant using pumped storage of water to generate electric power. It is located near Warren, Pennsylvania in Warren County.
Jesse J. Cornplanter was an actor, artist, author, craftsman, Seneca Faithkeeper and decorated veteran of World War I. The last male descendant of Cornplanter, an important 18th-century Haudenosaunee leader and war chief, his Seneca name was Hayonhwonhish. He illustrated several books about Seneca and Iroquois life. Jesse Cornplanter wrote and illustrated Legends of the Longhouse (1938), which records many Iroquois traditional stories. Cornplanter was also the first Native American to play a lead in a feature film titled Hiawatha, which was released in 1913 and a year before the notable Western The Squaw Man.
The Seneca Nation of Indians is a federally recognized Seneca tribe based in western New York. They are one of three federally recognized Seneca entities in the United States, the others being the Tonawanda Band of Seneca and the Seneca-Cayuga Nation of Oklahoma. Some Seneca also live with other Iroquois peoples on the Six Nations of the Grand River in Ontario.
George D. Heron was president of the Seneca Nation of Indians from 1958 to 1960 and again from 1962 to 1964. In addition to his cultural and community work, he is known as a leader of the Seneca opposition to Kinzua Dam, and for his work organizing the tribal resettlement.
Kinzua Township was a township in Warren County, Pennsylvania in the United States. The township was merged in 1963 into Mead Township.
Corydon Township is a defunct township in Warren County, Pennsylvania in the United States. The township was merged in 1964 into Mead Township.
Jimerson Town is a native planned community on the Allegany Indian Reservation within the bounds of Cattaraugus County, New York. Along with Irving on the Cattaraugus Reservation, Jimerson Town is one of two capitals of the Seneca Nation of Indians.
Elko was a town in Cattaraugus County, New York that existed from 1890 to 1965. It was forcibly evacuated in 1965 due to the construction of the Kinzua Dam on the Allegheny River in Warren County, Pennsylvania, one of the largest dams in the United States east of the Mississippi. The dam was authorized by the United States Congress as a flood control measure in the Flood Control Acts of 1936 and 1938, and was built by the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers beginning in 1960. Other benefits from the dam include drought control, hydroelectric power production, and recreation.
The Cornplanter Tract or Cornplanter Indian Reservation is a plot of land in Warren County, Pennsylvania that was administered by the Seneca tribe. The tract consisted of 1,500 acres (610 ha) along the Allegheny River.