Kinzua Power Squadron welcomes you

A unit of the United States Power Squadron ®   District 11

Established in 1914, United States Power Squadrons is the largest fraternal boating organization in the World with 46,000 Members in 448 Squadrons in 35 Districts from Maine to California, several U.S. Territories and Japan. The USPS membership consists of both sail and power recreational boaters. The USPS is a non-profit, non-governmental, non-enforcement fraternal boating organization dedicated to recreational boating education and civic service.

Member Benefits Being a member of the USPS has a lot of advantages, please click on the link to see some of these benefits.

The Kinzua Power Squadron is in USPS District 11 and is located in part of northwest Pennsylvania and southwestern New York State, headquartered in Warren PA. The area is the home of the Kinzua Dam and Alleghany Reservoir in PA and New York state, and Chautauqua Lake near Jamestown New York. Located in the Alleghany National Forest region of PA and the Chautauqua /Alleghany region of New York State, there are many outdoor activities to the enthusiast. Besides the  Reservoir and Chautauqua Lake, Lake Erie is only 50 minutes away, and Chapman Dam State Park PA is just 12  miles from Warren. For the camper, (tent or RV), Warren County PA and Chautauqua/ Alleghany Region in New York State is a must do area with many hiking trails and wilderness areas to explore. The Kinzua Viaduct is just over an hour away to the east, part of which was destroyed by a tornado on 2 July 2003. The railroad viaduct is considered to be one of the manmade wonders of the world!

Looking Back: The story behind the Kinzua Burgee. The Kinzua Squadron, located in northwestern Pennsylvania and western New York, with it’s boating activities centered on the Kinzua Reservoir and Lake Chautauqua and to some extent up on Lake Erie, received it’s charter from the USPS 19 May 1969. The new Squadron was named after the Kinzua Reservoir a beautiful valley of water formed by the Kinzua Dam on the Allegheny River near Warren, PA. This, area historically the home of the Seneca Indians, has been referred to by many as Kinzua Country. There has been much discussion and some controversy over the years as to the origin of the name Kinzua, however there is not any doubt that definitely it is of Seneca Indian origin. Historians have pronounced the word “Kinzoo-ah” with “Kinzoo” having to do with a “place of many fishes” and the addition of “ah” to mean a fish impaled on a spear as in spear fishing. The Kinzua Squadron burgee was thus designed to reflect this bit of Seneca Indian history of the area where the charter members of the Kinzua Squadron primarily carried out their boating activities.

P/D/C Ray O. Anderson, JN

The Kinzua Power Squadron membership consists of a cross section of power boaters and sailors from the Warren, PA area and from the Jamestown and Chautauqua County, NY areas. Meetings are held on the first Wednesday of every month and we meet at the Thorne's  BI-LO supermarket conference room at 7:00 PM.

For information on a public Boating Course (America's Boating Class ABC) Please click here