US Army Corps of Engineers

Construction for the dam was proposed in 1908. In 1964 the US Army Corp of Engineers built the Kinzua Dam. The dam controls flooding on the Allegheny and Ohio Rivers and also provides pollution abatement and creates recreational facilities. The dam created the Allegheny reservoir which flooded Seneca lands in Pennsylvania and all of the Allegany Indian Reservation in New York (more than nine thousand acres). The project forced 130 Indian families to relocated.

The Seneca's tried to prevent construction from happening by citing the Canandaigue Treaty of 1794 between the United States and the Iroquois. The treaty guaranteed Seneca rights to the land. Even though they lost the suit congress compensated the Seneca Nation with $15 million for direct and indirect damages and to fund a rehabilitation program

Warren, PA