The building of the Kinzua Dam was highly controversial because it flooded one-third of the Allegany Reservation of the Seneca Nation of Indians. This work examines the short and long-term consequences of the relocation of the Senecas. It traces the psychological, economic, cultural, and social effects over two generations.

Today the Kinzua Dam is, according to Bilharz, a "potent symbol" for the Senecas. For the younger generation, faced with a reservation land shortage, it represents powerlessness, providing them with ample reasons to blame their parents and to continue to mistrust the federal and state governments. For the older generation, the risen riverbanks have acquired an almost spiritual significance. In the evenings many continue to wander down to the reservoir banks "to be near where the 'old places' used to be." Joy A. Bilharz is an assistant professor of anthropology at SUNY College at Fredonia. She is currently serving as lead ethnographer and coprincipal investigator of a pan-Iroquoian survey and study commissioned by the National Park Service.