Photo By David Adams | The Indian Rock Dam is firmly positioned in southern Pennsylvania, where Codorus Creek...... read more read more
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The Indian Rock Dam is firmly positioned in southern Pennsylvania, where Codorus Creek drifts through the countryside. Steve Young, a seasoned veteran of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore District, has more than 40 years of dedicated service at the helm of this critical infrastructure.
Steve Young’s Origins
The path that led Young to his role as the head dam operator at Indian Rock Dam was filled with both unexpected opportunities and personal choices. Raised in Blanchard, Pa. and educated at Williamsport Area Community College, Young's career trajectory was shaped at its inception.
William Kirkpatrick, a retired former head dam operator, opened the door for Young to become the assistant dam operator and set him on a course that would define his career. Beginning as a seasonal employee in 1981, Young started full-time with USACE in March 1983. This led to a lifelong commitment to USACE, exclusively within the Baltimore District. Young's community roots and early introduction to dam operations at Foster Joseph Sayers Dam as a summer employee laid a solid foundation for his future.
"I came to Indian Rock Dam right out of community college as a seasonal employee," Young said.
In 2013, Young’s journey with USACE opened a new path when he was promoted to the dam’s head operator.
Standing Guard
Throughout his years with the Baltimore District, Young managed several significant weather events, particularly floods, that tested the readiness and resilience of the Indian Rock Dam and its operators.
"The first memorable flood event for me happened in January 1996," Young said. “We had 36 inches of snow on the ground and received heavy rain and a warming period, which caused significant melting. The day after the warming period, the weather changed drastically, and temperatures dropped below freezing. Once the water receded, we were left with two inches of ice on the roadways. This flood event lasted for five days. Most of the roads within our reservoir were closed.”
Young also reflected on Hurricane Lee in September 2011, when flooding lasted seven days, and Hurricane Sandy, when almost six inches of rain fell in an incredibly short period, resulting in the downstream gauge reaching 16 feet. Each crisis Young experienced presented unique challenges, but it reinforced the dam's critical role in flood risk management for the surrounding area.
Guiding Hands
Young's career is marked by the relationships and mentoring that guided and enriched his professional journey. One of those mentors was Burt Smith, the first head dam operator of Sayers Dam and former chief of the Susquehanna River Project’s West Section.
"Burt was very encouraging and helpful in my early days," Young said, reflecting on the mentorship he received. “He was a good storyteller and often told stories of his military career and interactions with people he met at Sayers Dam. Burt was at Sayers Dam as it was being built.”
George Bielen, a former chief of the Susquehanna River Project’s West Section; Joseph Ignatius, former chief of Flood Risk Management; William Kirkpatrick, the head dam operator when Young first arrived at Indian Rock Dam; and Kimm Rockey, a former assistant and head dam operator at Indian Rock Dam who Young credits for teaching him everything he knows, all played significant roles in Young’s four-decade-long service to USACE.
“There are too many people to mention that I have worked with, interacted with, and became friends with, many that have since retired,” said Young.
The Indian Rock Dam's Visitor Logbook
Worth noting within the operational heart of Indian Rock Dam is a visitor logbook maintained since 1963. Spanning about 80 pages with more than 2,250 individual visits recorded, the book captures a historical essence of the dam’s role beyond the core function of flood management.
Among its pages, the logbook documents visits from many USACE representatives, such as past and present district commanders. One July 1964 entry records a visit from the Paraguayan Army Chief of Engineers. For Young, it illustrates the dam’s capacity to cultivate international engineering collaboration.
“The logbook is a historical bridge, connecting past operations and contributions of individuals who did a lot for the dam’s evolution,” said Young. “Each log is part of the dam’s legacy.”
Along with the logbook, Young proudly showcases old physical photos, some dating back more than five decades. As he sorts through the images, Young recalls people’s names, the approximate year it was, and what was happening precisely.
Community Champion
"Indian Rock Dam has and will continue to serve the City of York and the surrounding townships and municipalities," Young said, reflecting on his career and commitment to the mission and community.
Through floods and storms, technological dynamics, and shifts in modernized dam management, Young remains dedicated to the community and Baltimore District, embodying the spirit and resilience of USACE.
“I interact with many community members, community leaders, and agencies. Brandon Bailey [assistant dam operator] and I are now the face of Indian Rock Dam. I thank all the people who have helped me along the way and for giving me this opportunity.”
About Indian Rock Dam:
Indian Rock Dam is an earth and rock structure 1,000 feet long, rising 83 feet above the streambed, with a side-channel spillway and gated outlet conduit in the right abutment. The ordinarily dry reservoir area has a storage capacity of 28,000 acre-feet (9.1 billion gallons) at the spillway crest. It controls a drainage area of 94 square miles, equivalent to 41 percent of the watershed upstream from York. The Codorus Creek project consists chiefly of 22,969 feet of channel improvement, including channel widening and deepening, flood walls, levees, protection of bank slopes, and removal of a mill dam, which increased channel capacity to 24,000 cubic feet per second. The two components protect the community against flood discharges, which are about 33 percent greater than the record flood of August 1933. Tropical storm Agnes (June 1972) filled the flood control reservoir and produced spillway flow.
| Date Taken: | 05.21.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 05.21.2024 11:17 |
| Story ID: | 471848 |
| Location: | YORK, PA, US |
| Hometown: | BLANCHARD, CA, US |
| Hometown: | WILLIAMSPORT, PA, US |
| Hometown: | YORK, PA, US |
| Web Views: | 52 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Steve Young's Legacy: Four Decades of Dedication at Indian Rock Dam, by Kurt Rauschenberg, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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