Youghiogheny River Lake

Coordinates: 39°47′52″N 079°22′09″W / 39.79778°N 79.36917°W

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Youghiogheny River Lake
The Yoghiogheny River Lake as viewed from below the Youghiogheny Dam
Youghiogheny River Lake Show map of Pennsylvania Youghiogheny River Lake Show map of Maryland Youghiogheny River Lake Show map of the United States
Location	Fayette / Somerset counties, Pennsylvania, and Garrett County, Maryland
Coordinates	39°47′52″N 079°22′09″W / 39.79778°N 79.36917°W / 39.79778; -79.36917
Type	reservoir
Primary inflows	Youghiogheny River
Primary outflows	Youghiogheny River
Basin countries	United States

Max. length	16 miles (26 km)^[1]
Surface area	4.4 sq mi (11 km²)
Water volume	149,300 acre⋅ft (0.1842 km³) Normal
Surface elevation	1,440 ft (440 m)^[2]

The Youghiogheny River Lake is a flood control reservoir that is located in southwestern Pennsylvania and western Maryland. It is a significant tourist attraction that brings in more than one million visitors a year to the area.^[3]

History and notable features

This lake was formed in 1944 by the damming of the Youghiogheny River upstream from Confluence, Pennsylvania.^[3]

The Youghiogheny Dam is an earthen structure, 184 feet (56 m) high and 1,610 feet (490 m) long at its crest, that is owned and operated by the United States Army Corps of Engineers.^[4]

The reservoir's normal surface area is approximately 4.4 square miles (11 km²), and it has a maximum capacity of 300,000 acre-feet (370,000,000 m³), although its normal storage level is 149,300 acre-feet (184,200,000 m³).^[4]

The dam facilitates flood control, improves river flow and provides twelve megawatts of hydroelectric power.^[1]

U.S. Route 40 crosses the lake between Jockey Hollow on the Fayette County side and Somerfield on the Somerset County side.^[5]

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.^[6] Somerfield was abandoned, razed, and inundated when the reservoir was filled during the 1940s.

The stone Great Crossings Bridge of the National Road, which crossed the Youghiogheny at Somerfield, is visible at extremely low water levels.^[7] The triple-arch sandstone bridge was constructed between 1815 and 1818 by James Kinkead, James Beck, and Evan Evans.^[7]^[8]

Gallery

Somerfield, 1860 (note orientation of map: north at bottom)

References

^ ^a ^b Youghiogheny River Lake at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Youghiogheny River Lake
^ ^a ^b Palmer, Tim (1984). Youghiogheny, Appalachian River. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press. p. 92. ISBN 978-0-82293-495-0.
^ ^a ^b United States Department of the Interior Geological Survey (1968). Water Resources Data for Pennsylvania: Part 1 Surface Water Records. Harrisburg: United States Geological Survey. p. 248.
^ "Youghiogheny River Lake Project Map". Pittsburgh District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Retrieved June 2, 2020.
^ History of Bedford, Somerset and Fulton Counties, Pennsylvania. Chicago: Waterman, Watkins & Co. 1884. p. 572.
^ ^a ^b Lowry, Patricia (January 7, 1999). "A bridge to the 19th century: Falling water-level of Youghiogheny unearths ghost town, historical crossing". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved June 1, 2020.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
^ Heberling, Scott D. (2010). Historic Bridges of Somerset County, Pennsylvania (PDF). Harrisburg, PA: Pennsylvania Dept. of Transportation. p. 7.

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v t e Waters of Maryland
Bays/estuaries	Assawoman Chesapeake Chincoteague Curtis Bay Eastern Fishing Herring Isle of Wight Mallows Newport Pocomoke Sinepuxent Tangier
Rivers	Anacostia Annemessex (Big) Annemessex (Little) Back Bird Blackwater Blackwater (Little) Bohemia Bush Casselman Chester Chicamacomico Choptank Choptank (Little) Christina Corsica Elk Front Gunpowder Hawlings Jones Falls Magothy Magothy (Little) Manokin Middle Miles Monocacy Monocacy (Little) Nanticoke North North East Patapsco Patuxent Pocomoke Port Tobacco Potomac Rhode St. Martin St. Marys Sassafras Savage Severn South Susquehanna Transquaking Tred Avon Warwick West Wicomico (Potomac) Wicomico Wye Wye East Youghiogheny
Creeks, runs, streams	Antietam Alloway Arundel Cove Ballenger Bear (Patapsco) Bear (Sideling Hill) Bear (Youghiogheny) Beaverdam Bennett Big Hunting Big Pipe Bodkin Bonnie Branch Bread and Cheese Broad (Choptank) Broad (Potomac) Broad (Susquehanna) Broad Run Budds Bush Cabin John Carroll Catoctin Catoctin (Little) Chicamuxen Collington Branch Conococheague Conococheague (Little) Conowingo Cuckold Curtis Deep Run Deer Dividing Dorsey Run Double Pipe Dry Seneca Dueling Dundee Edge Creek Evitts Fifteenmile Fishing Flintstone Frog Mortar Furnace Georges Great Seneca Green Branch Greys Gwynns Falls Harris Henson Herbert Run Herring Run Honga Hunting (Little) Indian (Anacostia) Indian (Patuxent) Israel Laurel Run Licking Linganore Little Falls Little Falls Branch Little Pipe Little Seneca Lyons Main Marley Marsh Marshyhope Mattawoman Meekins Middle Mill Branch Minnehaha Branch Moores Run Muddy Branch Nanjemoy Nassawango Northeast Branch Anacostia River Northwest Branch Anacostia River Octoraro Owens Otter Point Oxon Paint Branch Parsons Piney Piscataway Plumtree Branch Pomonkey Principio Rock (Potomac) Rock Run Rockburn Branch Roland Run Romney St. Leonard Saltpeter Sams Sellman Seneca (Middle) Seneca (Potomac) Sideling Hill Slaughter Sligo Soapstone Branch Stony Stony Run Swanson Tenmile Creek Thoms Cove Toms Tonoloway Town (Patuxent) Town (Potomac) Town (Tred Avon) Towson Run Trappe Tuckahoe Turville Tuscarora (Monocacy) Tuscarora (Potomac) Tuscarora (Little) Watts Branch Western Run Wills Winters Run
Lakes	Allen Pond Artemesia Buckel's Bog Centennial Deep Creek Elkhorn Bernard Frank Jennings Randolph Kittamaqundi Little Seneca Needwood Quarry Lake Roland Parker Pond Schumaker Pond Woodward Pond Youghiogheny
Reservoirs	Dalecarlia Habeeb Liberty Loch Raven Piney Run Prettyboy Rocky Gorge Triadelphia

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