Good news! For 2018, we upgraded our geotrail to an official Geocaching GeoTour! Learn more about Pennsylvania's Clearfield County GeoTour, which offers a series of 5 related geocaching adventures: Forgotten Clearfield, Hometown Heroes, Waterways, Cemeteries, and Parks and Recreation. Codes are hidden within each cache. Collect 25 codes from across all 5 series and you qualify for a collectible prize. If you complete all 5 and have your passport validated, you can receive a trackable geocoin
The coordinates will take you to the observation are of Curwensville Dam. You will need to find the two informational signs (one at the coordinates, one at the entrance off the main highway). The gate is closed on weekends, but you can make the easy walk to the overlook. If the gate is open you may drive to the informational sign. Parking is next to it. Please do not block the gate in case the US Corp of Engineer workers need access. There is room to park off to the side. Keep your eyes open....There eagles nesting in the area and you may get a glimps of them.
Clearfield County is full of old and historical locations, buildings, and remnants of by gone eras. Come and cache Clearfield County to learn about it's rich history through ghost towns, abandoned cemeteries Civil War uprising and it's rich Native American presence.
The West Branch of the Susquehanna River has its orgins near the town Cherry Tree, Pennsylvania. This river meanders its way through central Pennyslvania to where it meets with the North Branch, and contiues to flow in an south-easterly direction through the state capital and eventually to the Chesapeake Bay.
The river has been used throughout history by the orginal inhabitants through modern history. The river was a source of food and water by the indians as well as modern man. Water levels can be low in the late summers, high at spring thaw, and as history has shown, could provide distructive forces.
When man settled along the river, many people built there home and businesses along the river. The vast pine forests were a major attraction for commerce due to the striaghtness and tallness of the great pines that grew here. These trees were in demand for not only building the homes and businesses of a developing country, but mostly because of they were perfect for building the main masts of sailing ships. The problem though was how to get these trees to market. The answer...the river. The trees once fallen were transported to the West Branch of the Susquehanna River by the use of splash dams in smaller creeks, horses, and later narrow gauge trains. Once at the river the logs were floated downstream, being guided by men riding rafts made from the trees. These floats were usally done in the spring so they would have enough water from the spring thaws and rains.
The subject of this Earth Cache is to become familiar with causes and effects of the placement of Curwensville Dam by the US Corp of Engineers.
In addition to the history of how the river was used and developed by man, man was not able to control the natural force of the water that could be very distructive. In written history there were major floods in 1889 and 1936 that caused great distruction and loss of life along the river. Because of this potential of continued loss of life and property, Congress approved the Flood Control Act on September 3, 1954. This Act included the authorization to design and build a flood control dam on the West Branch of the Susquehanna just above Curwensville, Pennsylvania. This year (2015) is the 50th anniversary of the first filling of Curwensville Dam with water (1965). The Dam is an earthfill structure 2,850 feel long, rising 131 feet above the streambed, with a gate-controlled outlet. The reservoir has a storage capacity of 124,200 acre-feet at spillway crest and extends 14 miles upstream when filled to that level. The project controls a drainage area of 365 square miles or 98 percent of the West Branch at Curwensville and 75 percent at Clearfield. The project reduces flood heights along the West Branch below the dam, and provides a lake for recreation. The Federal cost was $20,400,000.
The Commwealth of Pennsylvania coordinates the operation of George B. Stevenson Dam with the Corps operation of Curwensville Dam, Alvin R. Bush Dam, and Foster Joseph Sayers Dam in order to secure optimum flood control benefits through operation as a system.
Fifty-seven percent of the conservation storage space is allocated for water supply storage. Susquehanna River Basin Commission pays the Corps for this storage on an annual basis.
Benefits:
Through 2014 flood damages prevented are estimated at $229,433,000.
The reservoir provides recreation (The Corps estimated recreation attendance in fiscal 2012 was 456,617 visitor hours) and associated commerce.
The reservior provides additional shoreline and wetland area that benefits birds, animals, reptiles, and fish.
The water stored at the dam is used to provide more consistant water flow downstream in times of drought for water treatment plants (drinking water and waste water) and electrial plants, some of which produce cleaner energy.
Negative Effects:
Some fish and aquatic life that may need to move upstream to span will be blocked by the dam. Some fish can be injured when going through the control gates.
Errosion is speeded up when high releases for flood control take place.
The displacement of people and property when the dam was constructed. (several towns had to be torn down or moved during the construction of the dam.
Natural floods provided annual deposits of silt to floodplains which now are less furtile with the loss of this silt placement.
The large surface area of the reservoir causes an increase of water evaporation, affecting the atomosphere.
To gain credit for this cache you must answer the following questions. All answers can be found on either the US Army Corp of Engineers Informational Display, A Bronze Placque mounted on a stone base by the US Army Corp of Engineers, and a Pennsylvania Historical Marker found at the coordinates area and at the entrance at the top of the road. Email me your answers through the geocaching website. I will then email you the code to place in your geotrail passport.
1. Who was the resident engineer for the Curwensville Dam Project?
2. This earth and rock dam is 131' tall. This is over twice as tall as what famous national momument?
3. What is just downstream of the dam where the conduit releases water into the Susquehanna River?
4. In 1889 and 1936 there were devastating floods on the West Branch of the Susquehanna River. The worst flood was in 1972 due to hurrican Agnes and was less severe in Clearfield County due to the dam. The unprotected North Branch of the Susquehanna saw how many feet of flooding in 1972?
