Allegany Indian Reservation - Geography

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the Indian reservation has a total area of 43.7 mi² (113.1 km²). 36.4 mi² (94.2 km²) of it is land and 7.3 mi² (18.8 km²) of it (16.65%) is water.

The reservation borders both banks of the Allegheny River and is within several of the towns in the south part of the county (South Valley, Cold Spring, Salamanca, Great Valley, Red House, Carrollton, and Allegany). The City of Salamanca, with the exception of a northern spur along U.S. Route 219, is also within the reservation.

The governmental headquarters for the Allegany Reservation are located in a small community known as Jimerson Town, an unincorporated hamlet located west of Salamanca on a stretch of dead-end road that formerly was part of New York State Route 17. The government rotates between Jimerson Town and Irving on the Cattaraugus Reservation every two years, its current term began in November 2010 when Robert Odawi Porter took office.

Historically the reservation was adjacent to the Cornplanter Tract, a 1500-acre perpetual land grant given to Seneca chief Cornplanter and his descendants that extended into Pennsylvania. The Cornplanter Tract constituted the only reserved native lands in the state of Pennsylvania. By 1957, the year Cornplanter's last direct descendant (Jesse Cornplanter) had died, the Cornplanter Tract had only a seasonal population. Both the Cornplanter Tract and the western portion of the Allegany Reservation were flooded and mostly made uninhabitable as a result of the construction of the Kinzua Dam.