"Longest bridge in Warren County. Named after Cornplanter, a Seneca war chief and diplomat. Later renamed in 1978 for James Morrison, the first permanent settler in Kinzua Township, though the Cornplanter name is still commonly used." [ArchivedBridgeHunter]
I always like photos of bridges built to span a reservoir before the reservoir is filled.
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| Jackson-Township historical preservation posted Bridge over the Kinzua Dam (Allegheny Reservoir), located on Route 59 just east of the city of Warren, PA in the 1960s. The Allegheny Reservoir on the Allegheny River is a flood control project but also provides many forms of outdoor recreation in the surrounding areas. |
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| Jackson-Township historical preservation posted Construction taking place of the Kinzua Dam (Allegheny Reservoir) located along Route 59, east of Warren, PA in the 1960s. Pictured here are Kinzua Bridge piers and steel for erection to replace the dangerous Devils Elbow. The project consists of cement piers 142 feet high, 6 deck spans each being 300 feet long, 121,000 bolts and 3,000 tons of steel for the 172 feet high bridge. Kinzua Dam is one of the largest dams in the United States east of the Mississippi River and is located within the 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 second deepest lake. The lake extends 25 miles to the north, nearly to Salamanca, New York, which is within the Allegany Reservation of the Seneca Nation of New York. Federal condemnation of tribal lands to be flooded for the project displaced more than 600 Seneca members and cost the reservation 10,000 acres, nearly one-third of its territory and much of its fertile farmland. In 1936, a major flood struck the Pittsburgh metropolitan area and caused widespread damage. This prompted Congress to pass the Flood Control Acts of 1936 and 1938, authorizing the construction of a dam on the Allegheny River. Construction of the dam was not begun by the US Army Corps of Engineers until 1960. It was completed in 1965, and the filling of the reservoir continued until 1967. By then, considerable opposition to the dam had developed, particularly among the Seneca Nation of Indians based in New York. The proposed flooding of lands behind the dam to create a lake for recreation and hydropower would make them lose most of the historic Cornplanter Tract in Pennsylvania as well as numerous communities and thousands of acres of fertile farmland in New York. More than 600 families were displaced by the project and forced to relocate. In practice, much of the area was already prone to flooding and not permanently habitable; by 1953, the Cornplanter Tract was almost deserted, in part because the Seneca refused to connect the tract to the electrical grid and because road travel was often unreliable. Special considerations had to be made for buildings in the floodplain, including elevating the furnaces several feet above ground level. The main purpose of the dam was flood control on the Allegheny River. Kinzua controls drainage on a watershed of 2,180 square miles, an area twice the size of the state of Rhode Island. According to the Corps of Engineers, side benefits derived from the dam would include drought control, hydroelectric power production, and recreation. The hydroelectric power is distributed largely to Pittsburgh. |
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| Jackson-Township historical preservation posted View of the Cornplanter Bridge carrying Route 59 in Warren County and crossing the Allegheny Reservoir (Kinzua Dam) in the 1960s. The surrounding area is being developed to provide facilities for many forms of outdoor recreation. |
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