Kinzua Dam
The Kinzua Dam is located in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and impounds the Allegheny River to the Allegheny Reservoir. He is one of the largest dams in the United States east of the Mississippi.
- 4.1 dam
- 4.2 reservoir
Geography
The dam is located 9.6 km east of Warren directly at Pennsylvania State Route 59 It is embedded in the Allegheny National Forest.
History
The plans for the construction of a dam on the Allegheny River date back to the 1930s. Three times (1936, 1938, and 1941 ) the permit has been issued before construction actually began in 1960. The client was the United States Army Corps of Engineers. Five years later, the dam was completed - it cost 108 million U.S. dollars.
As of the 1972 Hurricane Agnes moved unusually far north, it came at the headwaters of the Allegheny River several days of heavy rains. The reservoir reached a record high and was only 91 cm away from its maximum capacity. Due to the congestion flooding of downstream areas could be prevented, which would probably have caused damage amounting to around 247 million U.S. dollars.
Resettlements
Dam construction was extremely controversial, because for him had to give a whole Indian nation. The last indigenous people of Pennsylvania, the Seneca had to be relocated from their original territories that would have located in the north of the lake resulting in the area around Salamanca in the State of New York. Nowadays, there are on the northern shores of the lake but again the Allegany Reservation. About the forced relocation of the Indians Johnny Cash wrote in 1964, the song As Long as the Grass Shall Grow on his album Bitter Tears: Ballads of the American Indian.
Even the Boy Scout Camp Olmsted on the banks of the river had to be demolished. It was further built up on a hill again.
Sense of the dam
The main benefit of the project is flood protection. Through him, the runoff of the Allegheny River and the Ohio River to be checked. In addition, the irrigation in a catchment area of 5644 km ² is regulated by the dam.
Useful concomitants are the protection against drought, electricity generation and the creation of a recreation area.
Plant
Dam
The dam consists of an earth embankment and a subsequent concrete dam. Together they have a length of 578 m. The wall consists of 2,293,635 cubic meters of earth, the wall of 382 272 cubic meters of concrete. The height of the dam is 55 meters.
The dam is a hydroelectric power plant. The pipes, which run for it through the dam, have a diameter of 5.8 m.
Reservoir
The resulting congestion by the lake, the Allegheny Reservoir, is the deepest lake in Pennsylvania. It has a length of 27 km and a maximum width of about 1 km.
Tourism
Until 11 September 2001, the dam was opened for tourists guides. After the terrorist attacks but these were suspended for reasons of national security.
However, it is still possible to swim in the lake, including some small beaches invite. Also, there is a marina not far from the dam. Approximately 200 m below the dam, there is also on the road a house with a tourist information center.