Managing Pymatuning Swampland in Northwestern Pennsylvania: a Personal Story Kenneth R

doi:10.2489/jswc.74.2.35A FEATURE Managing Pymatuning swampland in northwestern Pennsylvania: A personal story Kenneth R. Olson and Lois Wright Morton ymatuning Swamp lies buried beneath Pymatuning Reservoir, Figure 1 P subdued but not forgotten, its This wetland lake was formed when the canal towpath and road causeway was legacy still visible in the hydric soils and built into Pymatuning Swamp in the 1830s to enable settlers and trappers to travel throughout the swampland. wetlands of the reservoir backwaters (figure 1). This is a story of a changing climate, melting glaciers, ancient lakes filled with sediments, swamplands of northwestern Pennsylvania, and humanity’s unceasing efforts to mold and manage the natural landscape for human uses. The footprint of the Adena culture, hunters and gather- ers who grew corn (Zea mays L.), beans, Copyright © 2019 Soil and Water Conservation Society. All rights reserved. and squash 3,000 to 1,000 years ago near Journal of Soil and Water Conservation the wetlands, was light. Their settlements thrived for a short period along Pyma- tuning Creek, the Shenango River, and Conneaut Lake swamp. By the late 1700s, Europeans attempted to settle the wet, forested region incentivized by the Penn- sylvania Land Act. The human solution to this wetland wilderness of abundant white pine (Pinus strobus), beaver (Castor canadensis), and wildlife that was nearly impenetrable to travel was to construct expand the Goose Management Area and pushed south, and then receded leaving a 74(2):35A-41A the Beaver to Erie Canal in the 1830s. This displaced about 60 farm families. In most thick deposit of glacial drift in valleys and extension of the Erie Canal connected Midwest states, such as Illinois and Missouri, a thin mantle of soils on the uplands. The the Ohio River via Beaver River north the Federal Swamp Acts of 1849, 1850, and Valois, Cambridge, Venango, Frenchtown, to Shenango River, over the continental 1860 were used to drain swamplands, cut and Alden soils formed in surficial www.swcs.org divide to Lake Erie and quickened the timber, and convert the swamps to agricul- Wisconsin till (Yaworski et al. 1979). After transport and exchange of the wilderness’s tural land (Olson et al. 2016a, 2016b). The the Wisconsin glacier melted, about 15,000 raw materials and East Coast’s dry goods. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania did just years ago, the Crawford County land sur- The Pymatuning swampland was the opposite: they took productive agri- face that had been depressed by great loads flooded when the Pymatuning Dam was cultural lands for wildlife, including the of ice began to rebound and rise. Cycles of built in the 1930s to regulate and store creation of a Goose Management Area on upland and valley erosion were renewed, as floodwaters, one of the early public works one of the major Canadian geese (Branta shown by the high positions of the outwash efforts to manage river flooding. Uplands canadensis) flyways. terraces and two levels of postglacial alluvial adjacent to the dam were used for both deposits on flood plains. Haven and Scio wildlife and agriculture. By the late 1950s, CLIMATE CHANGE, GEOLOGY, soils formed in deposits on the older flood- the Pennsylvania Game Commission, using AND SOILS OF CRAWFORD plains or high bottoms, and Pope, Philo, and the threat of eminent domain, acquired COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA Holly soils developed in the low bottoms more than 4,000 ha (10,000 ac) of farmland Conneaut Lake, Pymatuning swamplands, with recent alluvium (Yaworski et al. 1979). adjacent to the Pymatuning Reservoir to and the land surfaces of Crawford County, The soils of Crawford County formed Pennsylvania, were greatly altered by two from glaciation on bedrock and resulted Kenneth R. Olson is professor emeritus of soil glaciers (figure 2), which advanced from in deposits of till, outwash, and lacustrine science in the College of Agricultural, Consum- the north during the Ice Age. The Illinoian material from glacial drift (Sheppes et al. er, and Environmental Sciences, University of glacier covered all of Crawford County, 1959). Major bedrock formations occur in Illinois, Urbana, Illinois. Lois Wright Morton and the later Wisconsian glacier covered all three bands that cross the county diago- is professor emeritus of sociology, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Iowa State Uni- but the southeastern corner of the county. nally in a southwest to northeast direction. –1 versity, Ames Iowa. These glaciers leveled ridges and hill- The rock strata dip about 5 to 8 m km tops, gouged valleys parallel to the ice as it (15 to 25 ft mi–1). In the northwestern JOURNAL OF SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION MARCH/APRIL 2019—VOL. 74, NO. 2 35A Figure 2 tles, lakes, bogs, and swamps. Carlisle soils Parent materials deposited and soils located in Ashtabula County (Ohio) and are formed in these organic deposits. Crawford and Erie counties (Pennsylvania) include the lacustrine deposits, the Today the climate of Crawford County beach ridge, the glacial till and the southern limit of ice advance into the residu- is continental and humid. Similar to the al parent material areas. past, the climate is continuing to change, 81° 80° Dunkirk 79° 78° and northeastern Ohio and northwestern Pennsylvania temperatures have increased New York by more than 0.8°C (1.5°F) when 1991 Lake Erie to 2012 averages are compared to 1901 Olean to 1960 averages (Melillo et al. 2014). Erie Conneaut Further, this region has experienced a Lake 42° 71% increase in the amount of precipi- Ashtabula Beach Warren ridge Allegheny tation falling in very heavy events from River 1958 to 2012 and a 10 day observed Meadville Southern limit Jefferson Tidioute of ice advance increase in frost-free season length dur- French Creek ing 1991 to 2012 relative to 1901 to 1960 0 25 mi 50 mi Pymatuning Oil City Greenville (Melillo et al. 2014). Warm air masses that Lake Allegheny Copyright © 2019 Soil and Water Conservation Society. All rights reserved. Mahonging 0 40 km 80 km Franklin River Journal of Soil and Water Conservation River Shenango originate in the Gulf of Mexico, mild Clarion River River dry air masses that originate in western United States, and cold, dry air masses Youngstown New Castle Parker that come in from Canada influence the 41° Pennsylvania weather and climate. Late in fall and in winter before the Great Lakes freeze over, Beaver River Allegheny River Beaver air masses over the lakes pick up moisture East Liverpool making winters cold and snowy. Ohio River Kiskiminetas River Southern limit Conemaugh River of ice advance Pittsburgh EARLY HUMAN USES OF PYMATUNING Chartiers McKeesport Ohio River AND CONNEAUT LAKE SWAMP AREAS Creek N Legend places the Adena culture mound 74(2):35A-41A Ohio Monongahela builders (500 to 1000 AD) as living near River Wheeling Youghiogheny River 40° Conneaut Lake and Pymatuning swamp- Moundsville lands. Little is known about these people, and it is not clear whether they are related www.swcs.org to the Delaware Native Americans (Lenni Legend Lenape) living in this region when Lake Erie and Pymatuning Lake Rivers and creeks European settlers arrived. Lenape com- Beach ridge Lacustine (Conotton-Conneaut-Allis soils) munities, originally located along the Hudson and Delaware rivers, were weak- Glacial till soils (Mahoning: Frenchtown, Venango, Ice advance – southern limit Canfield soils) ened by European diseases (e.g., smallpox, Cities Residual - Unglaciated (Gilpin, Guernsey-Hazelton soils) cholera, influenza, and dysentery). The Lenape were driven west into the upper Ohio River Valley Basin in the 1700s by part of the county (Conneaut Lake and and on kames and in kettle lakes, such the Seneca tribe, a member of the Iroquois Pymatuning swampland area), the old- as Conneaut Lake (figure 3). Wyoming, Confederacy. The Lenape (also called the est bedrock exposed is shale, siltstone, and Chenango, Braceville, Red Hook, and Erie Tribe) were ruled by a queen noted for sandstone of the Cattararius and Riceville Halsey soils formed in outwash. Outwash her cunning strategy and crooked dealings. formations which are of Devonian age is the most productive source of groundwa- The Iroquois name, “Pymatuning” means, (Yaworski et al. 1979). Also in the geologic ter. The lacustrine deposits consist of varied “The Crooked-Mouthed Man’s Dwelling groups is the sandstone of the Venango layers of silt and clay or rock flour depos- Place” with “crooked-mouthed” translated Formation that contains oil. ited in slow-moving water of glacial ponds, as deceitful (Sturtevant and Trigger 1978). Glacial outwash in Crawford County lakes, and other depressions. Caneadea and A 1785 treaty between the Iroquois contains strata or lenses of sorted silt, sand, Canadice soils formed in lacustrine depos- Confederation and Wyandot Nation and gravel deposited by flowing glaciers. its. Since glacial times, thick deposits of peat deeded the area north of the Ohio River These glaciofluvial deposits are in scoured and muck have accumulated in many ket- to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, valleys, on terrace remnants of valley walls, opening the way for settlers from New 36A MARCH/APRIL 2019—VOL. 74, NO. 2 JOURNAL OF SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION Figure 3 tion of the Beaver and Erie Canal in 1831, The Pymatuning Dam on the Shenango River transformed Ohio and Pennsylvania six years after the completion of the Erie swampland into a storage lake to regulate the release of water and a recreational Canal through New York State. area for hunters, fishers, and boaters. South of the Lake Erie–Ohio River drainage divide are the Pennsylvania Game Commission lands and the former Olson farm. TRANSPORTING LUMBER, BEAVER Ohio Pennsylvania PELTS, AND PEOPLE: THE BEAVER AND ERIE CANAL West Branch East Branch N East, Ashtabula Ashtabula There were three sections to the Beaver Middle River River 193 and West and Erie Canal: the Conneaut Division, Conneaut Cussewago 79 Middle Creeks Creek the Shenango Division, and the Beaver Branch 6.4 km Ashtabula 18 Division.

Load more