If you have been following our series on the effects of
Tropical Storm Agnes in the various river drainages of Pennsylvania, you may
have noticed a pattern of devastating damage followed by the resilient recovery
of the people and properties affected.
In many cases recovery included construction of reservoirs and other
flood control projects to protect against future flooding events. As part of the planning and construction of
these facilities, archaeology was often required to mitigate damage to possible
archaeological sites. As a result, many
new sites were discovered and both new and previously known sites were more
thoroughly excavated than would have been possible without the flood control
initiative.
The Allegheny River
Valley was positioned differently than the other river basins previously
featured in this series. The St.
Patrick’s Day flood of 1936 caused devastation throughout the region and hit
Pittsburgh particularly hard. More than
63 inches of snow received over the course of the winter began to melt and
combined with the increased rain on March 16 led to a major flooding
event. Described here by the U.S.Geological Survey’s Water Supply Paper 799:
“During the period March 9-22,1936 there occurred in
close succession over the northeastern United States . . . two extraordinarily
heavy rainstorms. The depths of rainfall mark this period as one of the
greatest concentrations of precipitation, in respect to time and magnitude of
area covered, of which there is record in this country. At the time of the rain
there were also accumulations of snow on the ground over much of the region
that were large for the season. The comparatively warm temperatures associated
with the storms melted the snow and added materially to the quantities of water
to be disposed of by drainage into the waterways . . . the total quantity that
had to be disposed of . . . ranged between 10 to 30 inches.”
The Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers converge at the point in
Pittsburgh to form the Ohio River. The
water crested more than 20 feet over flood stage to 46 feet which left much of
downtown Pittsburgh underwater, and millions of dollars of damage in its
wake. It also left 62 dead, more than
500 injured and approximately 135,000 people homeless throughout the region. This was the impetus for Congress to pass the
Copeland Act in 1938 allotting the funds for the construction of levees and
reservoirs in the Allegheny and surrounding drainages.
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| Area of the Kinzua Dam Project |
The Kinzua Dam and Allegheny Reservoir were a product of
this construction and are credited with significantly lessening the impact of
Agnes on Pittsburgh thus fulfilling its promised function. The lessened impact
still created considerable damage to Pittsburgh with the rivers cresting at
35.8 feet. The Pennsylvania Historical
and Museum Commission had recently opened the Fort Pitt Museum in 1969 on
Pittsburgh’s “Golden Point”. It was
inundated with 45 inches of water damaging the structure as well as the
artifacts and exhibits causing it to close for almost two years for repairs. Other towns and cities throughout the region
were severely impacted by Agnes. The
town of Freeport in Armstrong County is situated between the Allegheny River
and Buffalo Creek and had what one resident, PaulWhite, described as “double flooding”.
Unfortunately, the construction of the Kinzua Dam
also had a significant downside. It caused
the displacement of Pennsylvania’s last group of Indigenous people. The Seneca that occupied approximately 10,000
acres of their Allegheny Territory had been deeded this land as part of the Treatyof Canandaigua, signed by President George Washington in 1794. The
Allegheny River was known as the “Beautiful River” or “Good River” in Seneca
language Ohi:yo’. It was the source of food, plants, and
medicines for thousands of years and culturally significant to the Seneca
Nation peoples living in the Allegheny Territory and those living on the
Cornplanter Grant. After
many years and many legal battles, the government eventually used the right of
eminent domain to claim the land and removed the approximately 600 Tribal
members living there to the Allegheny Reservation in Salamanca, New York.
The Seneca Nation Onödowá’ga:’ (oh-non-doh-wah!-gawh!),
which means “People of the Great Hill” have created an exhibit that relays
their story of this event to educate others at their museum (https://scalar.usc.edu/works/ohiyo/index).
Soon after the passage of the Copeland Act the Pennsylvania
Historical Commission(PHC) examined areas that would be impacted by
construction of the dam. In 1941 a
Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC) project was conducted on the Pearl Smith farm
located two miles north of Kinzua, Warren County. The investigation led to the recovery of
materials representing activities from the Middle Woodland period (1000- 2400 years ago). Additional archaeological investigations were
conducted in 1942 in a midden area associated with the village component of the
Sugar Run site (36WA0002). Unfortunately, this work was halted due to the outbreak
of WWII and call to duty of the excavators. This multi- component site has been linked to
similar sites in New York and Ohio, demonstrating complex social networks.
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Blades |
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Corner-Notched |
The construction of the levees and reservoirs that resulted
from the Copeland Act predate the enactment of The National Historic
Preservation Act of 1966 which required (and continues to require) the
consideration of impact on archaeological and historic resources from federally
funded construction projects. Hence,
there was no legal requirement for archaeological investigations prior to
implementation of the flood control projects.
Fortunately, in 1950 the Carnegie Museum initiated the Upper Ohio Valley
Archaeological Survey. Its purpose was
to create “a basic framework of information covering all of man’s time in the
area” (Mayer-Oakes, 1955). This
comprehensive survey laid the groundwork for our understanding of the precontact
and historic occupations of the area.
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Kinzua Phase Pot found in Cold Spring, New York and curated National Museum Salamanca, New York. (Myers, 2019) |
The National Park Service sponsored survey and testing in
the area that would be inundated by the Allegheny Reservoir in September and
October of 1958 by William A. Ritchie (New York State Museum) and Don W. Dragoo
(Carnegie Museum). Most of the initial survey
was confined to surface testing because the land was still privately owned and
much of it was being actively farmed.
After the land was purchased by
the U.S. Government, a more thorough investigation could be conducted. One site of particular interest was the Kinzua
site (36WA0053). Only a few chert flakes
(debitage) had been found at this location during the initial surface survey.
Stanley Lantz of the Carnegie revisited the site in 1965, as
the dam was nearing completion. A large
portion of the site had already eroded away by the lapping waters of the rising
reservoir, revealing pottery sherds associated with the Allegheny Erie
Tradition (A.D.1100-1300) (Lantz 2020).
Full scale excavations commenced in 1965 with the mechanical removal of topsoil
exposing the precontact indigenous occupation.
The remaining portion of the site, approximately 1,200 m2,
was excavated and found to be a stockaded village complete with houses,
hearths, storage pits and artifacts attributed to a community whose economy was
based on agriculture, hunting, and fishing.
The Kinzua site, like many other sites within the Allegheny Reservoir impoundment area are now under water. Thankfully a few of them were thoroughly excavated
with National Park service funds providing a window into Pennsylvania’s past.
Tropical Storm Agnes’s effects in western
Pennsylvania were devastating but they were less severe than they might have
been due to construction of flood control projects following the deadly St.
Patrick’s Day flood 36 years earlier. The construction of similar flood control
projects in central and eastern Pennsylvania were not implemented, for the most part, until after those communities suffered the
wrath of Agnes.
If you missed our Learn at Lunch program on the impact of
Agnes on cultural resources, the link is
provided here to watch the recorded program.
References:
Dragoo, Don W.
1965 Archeological Investigations in the
Kinzua Area of the Allegheny Basin of Western Pennsylvania During 1965,
Manuscript on file, The Pennsylvania State Museum Section of Archaeology,
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
Lantz, Stanley W.
2020 The Allegheny Erie Tradition. In The
Archaeology of Native Americans in Pennsylvania Volume 2 edited by Kurt W.
Carr, Christopher A. Bergman, Christina B. Rieth, Bernard K. Means, and Roger
W. Moeller, pp. 465 – 482, University of Pennsylvania Press.
Mayer-Oakes, William J.
1955 Prehistory of the Upper Ohio Valley;
An Introductory Archeological Study. Carnegie Museum Anthropological
Papers, No. 2. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
McConaughy, Mark
A. and Janet R. Johnson
2003 Sugar Run Mound (36Wa359) and Village
(36Wa2): Hopewell/Middle Woodland in Warren County, Pennsylvania. Foragers and
Farmers of the Early and Middle Woodland Periods in Pennsylvania, Recent
Research in Pennsylvania Archaeology, No.3, PHMC, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
Myers, Andrew J.
2019 The Cold Spring Pot: An Allegheny Erie
Tradition Vessel Found in the Upper Allegheny Drainage. In Pennsylvania
Archaeologist 89(1):25 – 44.
Making History:
The Heinz History Center Blog
https://www.heinzhistorycenter.org/blog/western-pennsylvania-history/st-patricks-day-flood-1936
https://www.heinzhistorycenter.org/blog/fort-pitt-museum/hurricane-agnes-and-the-fort-pitt-museum
Online Resources:
https://www.wgrz.com/article/sports/outdoors/the-tragedy-of-the-kinzua-dam/71-445448395
https://triblive.com/local/valley-news-dispatch/50-years-ago-hurricane-agnes-left-indelible-mark/
https://americanindian.si.edu/nationtonation/treaty-of-canandaigua.html
https://scalar.usc.edu/works/ohiyo/index
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