The Beauty Around Us

Kinzua Dam

By Linda G. on June 3, 2013

Kinzua Dam is located 6 miles east of Warren, PA along Route 59.  The dam was constructed by the U.S. Corps of Engineers and was completed in 1965.   The main purpose of Kinzua Dam is flood control on the Allegheny River.  Additional benefits of Kinzua Dam include drought control, hydroelectric power production and recreation.

Immediately above Kinzua Dam is an upper reservoir.

I obtained this image and much of the information provided in this blog post from a Wikipedia article on the Kinzua Dam.  This is an aerial view of Kinzua Dam and the Seneca Pumped Storage Generation Station.  According to the Wikipedia article the Seneca Pumped Storage Generating Station is a hydroelectric power plant that uses pumped storage of water to generate electric power.  Water is pumped into an upper reservoir (the crater of water seen on the left).  When energy is needed, the water is allowed to fall back down and drive generators along the way.

Bob and I visited the upper reservoir yesterday afternoon.  We traveled there via Brown Run Rd. and Jakes Rocks Rd.  We really enjoyed our drive to the upper reservoir.  We saw one doe and one fawn at two different locations.  I didn’t capture a photograph of either family pair; however, the images of both deer families are locked in my memory.

It was a short climb from a parking area to the upper reservoir.

I read that the upper reservoir is 60 feet deep and 1/2 mile in diameter.

From the upper reservoir we continued on to Jakes Rocks.

Kinzua Dam impounds the 12,080-acre Allegheny Reservoir, of which 7,783 acres are within Pennsylvania.  The remaining 4,297 acres are in New York.  The Allegheny Reservoir is 27 miles long with 90 miles of shoreline and includes many recreational facilities to include marinas, boat launches and campgrounds .  There are splendid views of Kinzua Dam and the Allegheny Reservoir from Jakes Rocks.

Jakes Rocks Overlooks of Kinzua Dam

From Jakes Rocks we backtracked, following Jakes Rocks Road and Brown Run Road to Route 59.  We hoped to see more deer along the way.  We didn’t.  We still enjoyed the drive though.  We had the road mainly to ourselves.  Once on Route 59 we drove to Kinzua Dam, stopping first at the Big Bend Recreation Area.

We had a bonus sighting, while at Big Bend Recreation Area.  We saw three baby foxes (and the backside of a fourth baby fox when they all headed into the weeds because some children were shouting and running down the path towards them).

From Big Bend Recreation Area we drove the short distance to Kinzua Dam itself.

I leave you with a short video clip that I took, while at Kinzua Dam.