The Youghiogheny River Lake is a

flood control Flood management or flood control are methods used to reduce or prevent the detrimental effects of flood waters. Flooding can be caused by a mix of both natural processes, such as extreme weather upstream, and human changes to waterbodies and ru ...

reservoir A reservoir (; ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam, usually built to water storage, store fresh water, often doubling for hydroelectric power generation. Reservoirs are created by controlling a watercourse that drains an existing body of wa ...

that is located in southwestern

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

and western

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

. It is a significant tourist attraction that brings in more than one million visitors a year to the area.

History and notable features

This lake was formed in 1944 by the damming of the

Youghiogheny River The Youghiogheny River ( ), or the Yough ( ) for short, is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed August 15, 2011 tributary of the Monongahela River in West Virginia, Maryla ...

upstream from

Confluence, Pennsylvania Confluence is a borough in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is part of the Johnstown, Pennsylvania, Metropolitan Statistical Area. It was settled in 1870 and incorporated in 1873. The population was 724 at the 2020 census. Ge ...

. The Youghiogheny Dam is an earthen structure, high and long at its crest, that is owned and operated by the

United States Army Corps of Engineers The United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is the military engineering branch of the United States Army. A direct reporting unit (DRU), it has three primary mission areas: Engineer Regiment, military construction, and civil wo ...

. The reservoir's normal surface area is approximately , and it has a maximum capacity of , although its normal storage level is . The dam facilitates flood control, improves river flow and provides twelve megawatts of

hydroelectric power Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is Electricity generation, electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies 15% of the world's electricity, almost 4,210 TWh in 2023, which is more than all other Renewable energ ...

U.S. Route 40 U.S. Route 40 or U.S. Highway 40 (US 40), also known as the Main Street of America (a nickname shared with U.S. Route 66), is a major east–west United States Highway traveling across the United States from the Mountain States to the Mid- ...

crosses the lake between Jockey Hollow on the Fayette County side and Somerfield on the Somerset County side. Somerfield was laid out on the western edge of Addison Township, Somerset County circa 1816 by Philip D. Smyth, who originally named the settlement Smythfield. Somerfield was abandoned, razed, and inundated when the reservoir was filled during the 1940s. The stone Great Crossings Bridge of the

National Road The National Road (also known as the Cumberland Road) was the first major improved highway in the United States built by the federal government. Built between 1811 and 1837, the road connected the Potomac and Ohio Rivers and was a main tran ...

, which crossed the Youghiogheny at Somerfield, is visible at extremely low water levels. The triple-arch sandstone bridge was constructed between 1815 and 1818 by James Kinkead, James Beck, and Evan Evans.

Gallery

File:Map of Somerfield, Somerset County, Pennsylvania, from 1860 Somerset County Map by Edward L Walker.jpg, Somerfield, 1860 (note orientation of map: north at bottom)

References

{{authority control Protected areas of Garrett County, Maryland Reservoirs in Maryland Reservoirs in Pennsylvania United States Army Corps of Engineers, Pittsburgh District Protected areas of Fayette County, Pennsylvania Protected areas of Somerset County, Pennsylvania Bodies of water in Fayette County, Pennsylvania Bodies of water of Somerset County, Pennsylvania Bodies of water of Garrett County, Maryland