Steamburg is a hamlet in the Town of Coldspring in Cattaraugus County, in western New York, United States.
Steamburg, in similar fashion to a few other communities in the region, has no incorporated government and is not currently recognized by the U.S. Census Bureau, though it was recognized as the, "Village of Steamburg," in the 1880 census. Its name is noted on road signs. It is served by a phone exchange (716-354) and ZIP code (14783) in common with the Town of Coldspring and the surrounding areas.
The Erie Railroad main line ran through Steamburg and the Steamburg station was located on the south side of the tracks just east of NE May Road (formerly Depot Street).
The hamlet of Steamburg is marked as India Village on a Holland Land Company map dating to 1836. The hamlet's post office opened in 1861.
Steamburg serves as the western gateway to the Allegany Indian Reservation of the Seneca Nation of New York; as such, a few tax-free gasoline and cigarette shops can be found in the area. The Seneca Transit Service's bus service, founded in 2013, ends just south of Steamburg. The community is located at the eastern terminus of New York State Route 394, at I-86 exit 17. Also converging on the hamlet is New York State Reference Route 950A (West Bank Perimeter Road, a.k.a. Onoville Road), which approaches from the south, and Cattaraugus County Route 10 (Lebanon Road), which approaches from the north.
The government of the Town of Coldspring is situated in northern Steamburg, as is the Town's only formal religious institution, which until the late 2010s was a branch of the United Methodist Church. The northern part (the only part marked on road signs) is outside the reservation.
The southern part of the hamlet was developed for residential housing in the 1960s, with an acre per household, as a resettlement area to compensate some of the hundreds of Seneca displaced from their communities for construction of the Kinzua Dam and its reservoir, known as Kinzua Lake. It is located on the reservation. This is a center of the Coldspring Longhouse and has developed in a more conservative fashion since relocation in the 1960s. The tribe in the 1990s built the only medical clinic on the reservation in this community. The surrounding region also features the Highbanks Campground and the Faithkeepers School, both a short distance south of the residential areas.
Other Seneca were resettled to a new residential community, Jimerson Town, developed near Salamanca, New York. Designated as one of the two capitals of the Seneca Nation of New York, Jimson Town has been developed with more facilities, including schools, swimming pool, fire station and other amenities.
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42°06′29″N78°54′15″W / 42.10806°N 78.90417°W
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Cattaraugus County is a county in Western New York, with one side bordering Pennsylvania. As of the United States 2020 census, the population was 77,042. The county seat is Little Valley. The county was created in 1808 and later organized in 1817. The county is part of the Western New York region of the state.
Carrollton is a town in Cattaraugus County, New York, United States. The population was 1,214 at the 2020 census. The town was named after Guy Carrollton Irvine, an early settler of the region.
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.
Napoli is a town in Cattaraugus County, New York, United States. It is located in the western half of the county, northwest of Salamanca. The only permanent community in the town is Napoli village, formerly "Napoli Corners". The population was 1,173 at the 2020 census.
New Albion is a town in Cattaraugus County, New York, United States. The population was 1,990 at the 2020 census. The town is named after Albion in Orleans County, the source of some early settlers. New Albion is in the northwest quadrant of the county, northwest 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.
Salamanca is a town in Cattaraugus County, New York, United States. The population was 470 at the 2020 census. The name is from José de Salamanca y Mayol, Marquis of Salamanca, a major Spanish investor in the Atlantic and Great Western Railroad, a local railroad.
Irving is a hamlet in Chautauqua County, New York, United States. It is located near the eastern town line and the eastern county line in the town of Hanover. U.S. Route 20 and New York State Route 5 pass through the hamlet, which is next to Cattaraugus Creek; New York State Route 438 terminates just across the creek. The elevation of the hamlet is 584 feet (178 m) above sea level. The ZIP Code for Irving is 14081.
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 394 (NY 394) is a state highway located within Cattaraugus and Chautauqua counties in southwestern New York in the United States. Its western terminus is located on the shore of Lake Erie at an intersection with NY 5 in the Westfield hamlet of Barcelona. The eastern terminus is located at an interchange with the Southern Tier Expressway at the Coldspring hamlet of Steamburg. From Mayville to Jamestown, NY 394 follows the western edge of Chautauqua Lake. East of Jamestown, the route straddles the Southern Tier Expressway and connects to the highway in four different locations, including at its eastern terminus.
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.
New York State Route 417 (NY 417) is an east–west state highway located in the Southern Tier of New York in the United States. It begins at exit 20 of the Southern Tier Expressway in the city of Salamanca and ends at a junction with NY 415 in Painted Post, west of the city of Corning. At 105.25 miles (169.38 km) in length, NY 417 is the longest of the state highways that were formerly part of NY 17 before the construction of the Southern Tier Expressway. It also diverges the most from the current NY 17, coming within 100 feet (30 m) of the Pennsylvania state line at one intersection.
The Allegheny Reservoir 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 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.
Maxine Crouse Dowler was a teacher, Federal program administrator, member of the Board of Directors of the Seneca Nation Educational Foundation, member of the school board of the Salamanca, New York City Central School District that provides educational services to Seneca and other native American children residing on or near the Allegany Reservation of the Seneca Nation of Indians, Dowler was the first Seneca member of the Board of Education of the Cattaraugus-Allegany BOCES.
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.
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.