Kinzua Dam on the Allegheny River in Pennsylvania was a flashpoint in history for the Seneca Nation of Indians. Completed in 1965, the dam was originally proposed to help mitigate flooding in Pittsburgh almost 200 miles downriver, but the 27-mile reservoir that formed behind it inundated vast tracts of the Seneca Indians’ ancestral lands, forcing their removal in breach of the United States’ oldes
t treaty. Native American dispossession was recurrent across the continent in the 20th century. Sioux, Yakama, Nez Perce and Navajo among many other indigenous peoples were forcibly relocated to make way for dam projects. In 1953, Congress adopted a termination policy aimed at assimilating Native Americans into mainstream society, stripping them of their sovereignty and selling their lands. From 1953-1964, more than 100 tribes were terminated and approximately 2,500,000 acres of their land was sold, destroying cultures and communities. Lake of Betrayal sets the Kinzua Dam story against the 20th century American narrative celebrating dams as symbols of power and progress. Dams controlled the landscape, irrigated arid lands, and brought light and power to isolated farms and growing industries. This larger narrative of democracy and technology, harmonized for the public good, collides with the sovereignty and spiritual beliefs of Native Americans. Lake of Betrayal looks back over 50 years at the imposed changes on the Seneca’s way of life that have led to irreplaceable cultural losses but also a renewed and steadfast determination to protect their lands and preserve their language and culture.
