Blue Marsh Project -- a human tragedy

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Hi, All –

Three nights ago Judy (Bob’s sister), Bob and I attended the “Blue Marsh: Landscape Lost” exhibit at Penn State’s Freyberger Gallery. The Blue Marsh Dam and Recreational Project was carried out by the Army Corps of Engineers and completed in 1979. The intent was to curb some area flooding and to provide a nice recreational area including the newly created Blue Marsh Lake. First estimated to cost $11,000,000, the final cost was around $62,000,000.

Sadly, the greatest cost by far was the heartrending damage to the lives and livelihoods of a great number of families whose homes and businesses ended up under the lake water. More than fifty historic sites were in the area which was flooded; a few were moved, the rest were destroyed. A total of sixty-four farm families and dozens of other families were displaced. The Corps' planning was inadequate as a few small retention lakes would have taken care of the occasional flooding. Some people lost their house and business without getting a penny from the government because they refused to give consent. The government used "eminent domain" to take over their property. Others got far less than their property was worth.

The exhibit consisted of photos and paintings from before and after the flood, other documents, and a great many quotes from the people badly affected by this project. Many of the paintings were done by Skip’s brother Chris. Skip’s family home was among those flooded. Fortunately, the Corps, under pressure, saved his family’s historic Gruber wagon wheel factory by moving it to another location. Neither Skip nor his sister Gretchen were able to attend the exhibit; the memories hurt too much.

This is a quote from Gretchen, Skip's sister, that was in the Exhibit's program: “ . . . the dam: I hate it! I’ll be bitter till the day I die. During the construction of the ‘damn’ project and the lack of safety precautions, lives were lost . . . “ Gretchen and Skip’s brother was the first one drowned in the Lake.

The first photos were painted by Skip's brother; they are a few of the historic houses that were flooded. The last two photos are of Blue Marsh Lake, right behind Skip and Judy's house. Skip often thinks of his childhood home under the lake water.

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