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| Allegheny Mountains | |
|---|---|
 View from atopSpruce Mountain in easternWest Virginia, the highest point in the Alleghenies | |
| Highest point | |
| Peak | Spruce Knob ofSpruce Mountain, Pendleton County,West Virginia |
| Elevation | 4,863 ft (1,482 m) |
| Coordinates | 38°41′59″N79°31′58″W / 38.69972°N 79.53278°W /38.69972; -79.53278 |
| Geography | |
 | |
| Country | United States |
| States |
|
| Parent range | Ridge-and-valley Appalachians |
| Borders on | Cumberland Mountains |
| Geology | |
| Orogeny | Alleghenian orogeny |
| Rock types | |
TheAllegheny Mountain Range (/ˌælɪˈɡeɪni/AL-ih-GAY-nee)—also spelledAlleghany orAllegany, less formally theAlleghenies—is part of the vastAppalachian Mountain Range of theEastern United States andCanada. Historically, it represented a significant barrier to westward land travel and development. The Alleghenies have a northeast–southwest orientation, running for about 300 miles (480 km) from north-centralPennsylvania southward, through westernMaryland and easternWest Virginia.
The Alleghenies comprise the rugged western-central portion of theAppalachians. They rise to 4,862 feet (1,482 m) in northeastern West Virginia. In the east, they are dominated by a high, steepescarpment known as theAllegheny Front. In the west, they slope down into the closely associatedAllegheny Plateau, which extends intoOhio andKentucky. The principal settlements of the Alleghenies areAltoona,State College, andJohnstown, Pennsylvania; andCumberland, Maryland.
Using theUnited States Geological Survey (USGS) classification of physical geography (physiography), the Allegheny Mountain range is part of theAppalachian Plateau province of theAppalachian Highlands physiographic division.
The name is derived from theAllegheny River, which drains only a small portion of the Alleghenies in west-central Pennsylvania. The meaning of the word, which comes from theLenape (Delaware) Native Americans, is not definitively known but is usually translated as "fine river". The closest approximation which makes sense is some context from the Jesuit Relations[1] showing that Alligeh was one of several accepted renderings of the name of the Erie people among the early 17th century missionaries among the Native peoples throughout the eastern Great Lakes region, along with Rique, Yenresh and Erichronon. The suffix -ni means "of the," in Lenape, despite the irony that geh is also Iroquoian for "of the." So, most likely, Alligehni, or Oligini, would probably be the Lenape name for the original homeland of the Erie people.
The word "Allegheny" was once commonly used to refer to the whole of what are now called theAppalachian Mountains.John Norton used it (spelled variously) around 1810 to refer to the mountains inTennessee andGeorgia.[2] Around the same time,Washington Irving proposed renaming the United States either "Appalachia" or "Alleghania".[3] In 1861,Arnold Henry Guyot published the first systematic geologic study of the whole mountain range.[4] His map labeled the range as the "Alleghanies", but his book was titledOn the Appalachian Mountain System. As late as 1867,John Muir—in his bookA Thousand Mile Walk to the Gulf—used the word "Alleghanies" in referring to thesouthern Appalachians.
There was no general agreement about the "Appalachians" versus the "Alleghanies" until the late 19th century.[3]
From northeast to southwest, the Allegheny Mountains run about 300 miles (480 km). From west to east, at their widest, they are about 100 miles (160 km).[a] When combining the Allegheny Province with the Kanawa Province, they run 400 miles (640 km).
The USGS physiographic classification of all land in the United States lists the Allegheny Mountains as a section within the largerAppalachian Plateau province.[5] It may be generally defined to the south by theAllegheny Front, and to the east by theSusquehanna River valley. To the west, the Alleghenies grade down into the dissected Allegheny Plateau. The westernmost ridges are considered to be theLaurel Highlands andChestnut Ridge inPennsylvania, andLaurel Mountain and Rich Mountain inWest Virginia.
Big Stone Ridge marks the southern extent of the Alleghenies and is an outlier ofFlat Top Mountain, with theTug Fork river running along its western flank.[6] The land to the south and to the west of the Alleghenies is theValley and Ridge physiographic province.
The eastern edge of the Alleghenies is marked by theAllegheny Front, which is also sometimes considered the eastern terminus of theAllegheny Plateau. This greatescarpment roughly follows a portion of theEastern Continental Divide in this area. Several gorges and valleys drain the Alleghenies: to the east,Smoke Hole Canyon (South Branch Potomac River), and to the west theNew River Gorge and theBlackwater andCheat Canyons. Thus, about half the precipitation falling on the Alleghenies makes its way west to theMississippi and half goes east toChesapeake Bay and the Atlantic seaboard.
The highest ridges of the Alleghenies are just west of the Front, with an east/west elevational change of up to 3,000 feet (910 m). Absolute elevations of the Allegheny Highlands reach nearly 5,000 feet (1,500 m), with the highest elevations in the southern part of the range. The highest point in the Allegheny Mountains isSpruce Knob (4,863 ft; 1,482 m), onSpruce Mountain inWest Virginia. Other notable Allegheny highpoints includeThorny Flat onCheat Mountain (4,848 ft; 1,478 m),Bald Knob onBack Allegheny Mountain (4,842 ft; 1,476 m), andMount Porte Crayon (4,770 ft; 1,450 m), all in West Virginia;Dans Mountain (2,898 ft; 883 m) in Maryland,Backbone Mountain (3,360 ft; 1,020 m), the highest point in Maryland;Mount Davis (3,213 ft; 979 m), the highest point in Pennsylvania, and the second highest,Blue Knob (3,146 ft; 959 m).
The Alleghenies contain relatively few large urban centers. The four most populous cities in the region are, in descending order,Altoona,State College, andJohnstown in Pennsylvania, andCumberland in Maryland.
In the 1970s and 1980s, theInterstate Highway System was extended into the northern portion of the Alleghenies. The region is now served by a network of federal expressways—Interstates 80,70/76 and68.Interstate 64 traverses the southern extremity of the range, but the Central Alleghenies (the "High Alleghenies" of eastern West Virginia) have posed challenges for highway planners owing to the region's rugged terrain and environmental sensitivities (seeCorridor H). The central Alleghenies continue to rely on a limited network of secondary highways, and the region maintains a lower population density compared to adjacent areas.
In thetelecommunications field, a unique impediment to development in the central Allegheny region is theUnited States National Radio Quiet Zone (NRQZ), a large rectangle of land—about 13,000 square miles (34,000 km2)—that straddles the border area of Virginia and West Virginia. Created in 1958 by theFederal Communications Commission, the NRQZ restricts all omnidirectional and high-power radio transmissions, although cell phone service is allowed throughout much of the area.
Much of theMonongahela (West Virginia),George Washington (West Virginia, Virginia) andJefferson (Virginia)National Forests lie within the Allegheny Mountains. (No part of the wooded Alleghenies in Maryland or Pennsylvania, however, is managed by theU.S. Forest Service.) The Alleghenies also include a number of federally designatedwilderness areas, such as theDolly Sods Wilderness,Laurel Fork Wilderness, andCranberry Wilderness in West Virginia.
The mostly completedAllegheny Trail, a project of the West Virginia Scenic Trails Association since 1975, runs the length of the range within West Virginia. The northern terminus is at theMason–Dixon line and the southern is at the West Virginia-Virginia border onPeters Mountain.[7]
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The bedrock of the Alleghenies is mostlysandstone and metamorphosed sandstone,quartzite, which is extremely resistant to weathering. Prominent beds of resistantconglomerate can be found in some areas, such as theDolly Sods. When it weathers, it leaves behind a pure white quartzite gravel. The rock layers of the Alleghenies were formed during theAppalachian orogeny.
Because of intense freeze-thaw cycles in the higher Alleghenies, there is little native bedrock exposed in most areas. The ground surface usually rests on a massive jumble of sandstone rocks, with air space between them, that are gradually moving down-slope. The crest of the Allegheny Front is an exception, where high bluffs are often exposed.
Mineral springs in the High Alleghenies attracted Native Americans and 18th century white settlers and provided a modest incentive to the local economy. The spas developing around these geological features include celebrated resorts that continue to cater to an exclusive clientele, such asThe Greenbrier (White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia; hotel built 1858) andThe Homestead (Hot Springs, Virginia; original lodge built 1766).
The High Alleghenies are noted for their forests ofred spruce,balsam fir, andmountain ash, trees typically found much farther north. Hardwood forests also includeyellow birch (whose specific nameBetula alleghaniensis refer to the mountain range),sugar andred maple,eastern hemlock, andblack cherry.American beech, pine and hickory can also be found. The forests of the entire region are now almost allsecond- or third-growth forests, the original trees having been removed in the late 19th and (in West Virginia) early 20th centuries. Thewild onion known as the ramp (Allium tricoccum) is also present in the deeper forests.
Certain isolated areas in the High Alleghenies are well known for their open expanses ofsphagnum bogs andheath shrubs (e.g.,Dolly Sods,Cranberry Glades). Many plant communities are indeed similar to those of sea-level eastern Canada. But theecosystems within the Alleghenies are remarkably varied. In recent decades, the many stages ofecologic succession throughout the area have made the region one of enduring interest to botanists.
The largermegafauna which once inhabited the High Alleghenies—elk,bison,mountain lion—were all exterminated during the 19th century. They survived longer in this area, however, than in other parts of the eastern United States. NaturalistJohn James Audubon reported that by 1851 a few eastern elk (Cervus canadensis canadiensis) could still be found in the Alleghany Mountains but that by then they were virtually gone from the remainder of their range. Mammals in the Allegheny region today includewhitetail deer,chipmunk,raccoon,skunk,groundhog,opossum,weasel,field mouse,flying squirrel,cottontail rabbit,gray foxes,red foxes,gray squirrels, redsquirrels and a cavebat.Bobcat,snowshoe hare,wild boar andblack bear andcoyote are also found in the forests and parks of the Alleghenies.Mink andbeaver are much less often seen.
These mountains and plateau have over 20 species of reptiles represented as lizard, skink, turtle and snake. Some of theicterid birds visit the mountains as well as thehermit thrush andwood thrush. North American migrant birds live throughout the mountains during the warmer seasons. Occasionally,osprey andeagles can be found nesting along the streams. Thehawks andowls are the most commonbirds of prey.
The water habitats of the Alleghenies hold 24 families of fish. Amphibian species number about 21, among themhellbenders,lungless salamanders, and varioustoads andfrogs. The Alleghenies provide habitat for about 54 species of commoninvertebrate. These includeGastropoda,slugs,leech,earthworms andgrub worm.Cavecrayfish (Cambarus nerterius) live alongside a little over seven dozen cave invertebrates.[8]
The indigenous people inhabiting the Allegheny Mountains emerged from thegreater region's archaic and mound building cultures, particularly theAdena andEastern Woodland peoples with a laterHopewellian influence. TheseLate Middle Woodland culture people have been called the Montaine (c. A.D. 500 to 1000) culture.[9][10] Their neighbors, the woodland Buck Garden culture, lived in the western valleys of the central Allegheny range. The Montaine sites extend from the tributaries of the upperPotomac River region south to the New River tributaries. These also were influenced by the earlierArmstrong culture of the more southwestern portions northern sub-range of theOuasioto (Cumberland) Mountains and by the more easterly Virginia Woodland people. The Late Woodland Montaine were less influenced by Hopewellian trade from Ohio, although similarly polished stone tools have been found among the Montaine sites in theTygart Valley.[11] Small groups of Montaine people appear to have lingered much beyond their classically defined period in parts of the most mountainous valleys.[12]
The watershed of theMonongahela River is within the northwestern Alleghenies, and it is from it that theMonongahela culture takes its name. TheGodwin-Portman site (36AL39) located inAllegheny County, Pennsylvania, had a possibleFort Ancient (c. AD 850 to 1680) presence during the 15th century.[13] Washington Boro ceramics have been found on the Barton (18AG3) and Llewellyn (18AG26) sites in Maryland on the northeastern slopes of the late Susquehannock sequence. The early Monongahela (c. AD 900 to 1630) are called the Drew Tradition in Pennsylvania. According to archeologist Richard L. George: "I believe that some of the Monongahela were of Algonquin origin.... Other scholars have suggested that Iroquoian speakers were interacting with Late Monongahela people, and additional evidence is presented to confirm this. I conclude that the archaeologically conceived term, Monongahela, likely encompasses speakers of several languages, including Siouan."[14] According to Dr Maslowski of West Virginia in 2009: "The New River Drainage and upper Potomac represents the range of the Huffman Phase (Page) hunting and gathering area or when it is found in small amounts on village sites, trade ware or Page women being assimilated into another village (tribe)." Finally, according to Prof Potter of Virginia, they [the people represented by the Huffman Phase of Page pottery] had occupied the eastern slopes of the Alleghenies on the upper Potomac to the northern, lowerShenandoah Valley region before the A.D. 1300 Luray phase (Algonquian) peoples' "invasion". It is thought that these ancient Alleghenians were pushed from the classic Huffman Phase of the eastern slopes of the Alleghenies to theBlue Ridge Mountains in westernVirginia, which was easternSiouan territory.
In 1669,John Lederer and members of his party became the first Europeans to crest the Blue Ridge Mountains and the first to see the Shenandoah Valley and the Allegheny Mountains beyond.
The proto-historic Alleghenies can be exampled by the earliest journals of the colonists. According to Batts and Fallows' September, 1671 Expedition, they found Mehetan Indians of Mountain "Cherokee-Iroquois" mix on the New River tributaries. This journal does not identify the "Salt Village", but, that the "Mehetan" were associated with these and today thought to be "Monetons", Siouans. However, this journal does not identify the "Salt Village" below theKanawha Falls, but, that simply the "Mehetan" were associated with these. He explained, below the "Salt Villages", a mass of hostile Indians had, implied, arrived and some believe these to be "Shanwans" of Vielles Expedition of 1692~94, ancient Shawnee. In 1669, John Lederer of Maryland for the Virginia Colony and the Tennessee Cherokee had visited the mouth of the Kanawha and reported no hostilities on the lower streams of the Alleghenies. The Mohetan representative through a Siouan translator explained to Mr Batts and Mr Fallon, ColonelAbraham Woods explorers 1671–2, that he (MohetonNative American) could not say much about the people below the "Salt Village" because they (Mountain Cherokee) were not associated with them. The Mohetan was armed by this time of 1671 for the Mohetan Representative was given several pouches of ammunition for his and the other's weapons as a token of friendship. Somebody had already been trading within the central Alleghenies before the Virginians historical record begins in the Allegheny Mountains. Some earlier scholars found evidence these Proto-historics were eitherCistercians of SpanishAjacan Occuquan outpost on thePotomac River orJesuits and theirKahnawake Praying Indians (Mohawk) on theRiviere de la Ronceverte. The "Kanawha Madonna" may date from this period or earlier. Where the New River breaks through Peters' Mountain, near Pearisburg Virginia the 1671 journal mentions the "Moketans had formerly lived".
According to a number of early 17th century maps, the Messawomeake or "Mincquas" (Dutch) occupied the northern Allegheny Mountains. The "Shatteras" (an ancient Tutelo) occupied the Ouasioto Mountains and the earliest termCanaraguy (Kanawhans otherwise Canawest[15]) on the 1671 French map occupied the southerly Alleghenies. They were associated with the Allegheny "Cherokee" and Eastern Siouan as trade-movers and canoe transporters. The Calicuas, an ancient most northern Cherokee, migrated or was pushed from the Central Ohio Valley onto the north eastern slopes of the Alleghenies of the ancient Messawomeake, Iroquois tradesmen to 1630s Kent Island, by 1710 maps. Sometime before 1712, the Canawest ("Kanawhans"-"Canallaway"-"Canaragay") had moved to the upper Potomac and made a Treaty with the newly established trading post of Fort Conolloway which would become a part of western Maryland during the 1740s.
Prior to European exploration and settlement,trails through the Alleghenies had been transited for many generations by American Indian tribes such as theIroquois,Shawnee,Delaware,Catawba and others, for purposes oftrade,hunting and, especially,warfare.[16] Western Virginia "Cherokee" were reported atCherokee Falls, today'sValley Falls of theTygart Valley.[17] Indian trader Charles Poke's trading post dates from 1731 with the Calicuas of Cherokee Falls still in the region from the previous century.
The "London Scribes" (The Crown's taxation records) vaguely mentions the colonial Alleghenian location of only a few other early colonial trading locations. A general knowledge of these few outposts are more of traditional telling of some local people. However, an example is the "Van Metre" trading house mentioned in an earlier edition of the "Wonderful West Virginia Magazine" being on the South Branches of the upper reaches of the Potomac. Another very early trading house appears on a lower Greenbrier Valley map during the earlier decades of the 18th century.
As early as 1719, new arrivals from Europe began to cross the lower Susquehanna River and settle illegally in defiance of the Board of Property in Pennsylvania, on un-warranted land of the northeastern drainage rivers of the Allegheny Mountains. Several Indian Nations requested the removal of "Maryland Intruders".[18] Some of these moved onward as territory opened up beyond the Alleghenies.
The first permanent European settlerswest of the Alleghenies have traditionally been considered to have been two New Englanders: Jacob Marlin and Stephen Sewell, who arrived in theGreenbrier Valley in 1749. They built a cabin together at what would becomeMarlinton, West Virginia, but after disputing over religion, Sewell moved into a nearby hollowed-out sycamore tree. In 1751, surveyor John Lewis (father ofAndrew Lewis) discovered the pair. Sewell eventually settled on the eastern side of Sewell Mountain, near present-dayRainelle, West Virginia.[19] They may well have been the first to settle what was then called the "western waters"—i.e., in the regions where streams flowed westward to the Gulf of Mexico rather than eastward to the Atlantic.
Among the first whites to penetrate into the Allegheny Mountains were surveyors attempting to settle a dispute over the extent of lands belonging to eitherThomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron or to the EnglishPrivy Council. An expedition of 1736 byJohn Savage established the location of the source of theNorth Branch Potomac River. In March 1742, a frontiersman named John Howard—along with his son and others—had been commissioned byGovernor Gooch to explore the southwest of Virginia as far as the Mississippi River. FollowingCedar Creek through theNatural Bridge, they floated in buffalo-skin boats down theNew,Coal,Kanawha, andOhio Rivers to the Mississippi. Although captured by the French before he reachedNatchez, Howard was eventually released and (in 1745) was interviewed by Fairfax. Howard's description of theSouth Branch Potomac River resulted in the definite decision by Fairfax to secure his lands in the region.[20] An expedition underPeter Jefferson andThomas Lewis in the following year emplaced the "Fairfax Stone" at the source of the North Branch and established a line of demarcation (the "Fairfax Line") extending from the stone south-east to the headwaters of theRappahannock River. Lewis' journal of that expedition provides a valuable view of the Allegheny country before its settlement.[21] Jefferson andJoshua Fry's "Fry-Jefferson Map" of 1751 accurately depicted the Alleghenies for the first time. In the following decades, pioneer settlers arrived in the Alleghenies, especially during Colonial Virginia'sRobert Dinwiddie era (1751–58). These includedsquatters by theQuit-rent Law. Some had preceded the official surveyors using a "hack on the tree and field of corn" marking land ownership approved by the Virginia Colonial Governor who had to be replaced with GovernorJohn Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore.
Trans-Allegheny travel had been facilitated when a military trail—Braddock Road—was blazed and opened by theOhio Company in 1751. (It followed an earlier Indian and pioneer trail known asNemacolin's Path.) Braddock Road connected Cumberland, Maryland (the upper limit of navigation on the Potomac River) and the forks of the Ohio River (the futurePittsburgh, Pennsylvania). It received its name from the British leader of theFrench and Indian War (1754–63), GeneralEdward Braddock, who led the ill-fatedBraddock expedition four years later.[22]
In addition to the war, hunting and trading with Indians were primary motivations for white movement across the mountains. Permanent white settlement of the northern Alleghenies was facilitated by the explorations and stories of such noted Marylanders as the Indian fighter and traderThomas Cresap (1702–90) and the backwoodsman and hunterMeshach Browning (1781–1859).[23] In the late 18th century, a massive migration to the Monongahela River basin took place over three main routes: along the old Braddock Road viaWinchester, Virginia; through theShenandoah Valley to the head of theCheat River and from there to the Monongahela; and along theLincoln Highway toLigonier, Pennsylvania, and thence alongJacob's Creek to the Monongahela. These immigrants were predominantlyScotch-Irish,German, and, to a lesser extent,British stock.[24]
The Braddock Road was superseded by theCumberland Road—also called the National Road—one of the first major improved highways in the United States to be built by thefederal government. Construction began in 1811 at Cumberland and the road reachedWheeling, Virginia (now West Virginia) on the Ohio River in 1818. Just to the south, the state-fundedStaunton and Parkersburg Turnpike was constructed to provide a direct route for the settlements of the Shenandoah Valley to the Ohio River by way of theTygart Valley andLittle Kanawha Rivers. Planned and approved in 1826 and completed in 1848, the Staunton and Parkersburg was maintained by fees (tolls) collected attoll houses placed at regular intervals.
Construction on theBaltimore and Ohio Railroad began atBaltimore in 1828; the B&O traversed the Alleghenies, changing the economy and society of the Mountains forever.[citation needed] The B&O had reachedMartinsburg, (West) Virginia by May 1842,Hancock, (West) Virginia, by June, Cumberland, Maryland, on November 5, 1842,Piedmont, (West) Virginia on July 21, 1851, andFairmont, (West) Virginia on June 22, 1852. (It finally reached its Ohio River terminus atWheeling, (West) Virginia on January 1, 1853.)[citation needed]
TheChesapeake and Ohio Canal — also begun in 1828, but atGeorgetown — was also a public work of enormous economic and social significance for the Alleghenies. It approachedHancock, Maryland, by 1839. From the beginning, the B&O Railroad and theChesapeake and Ohio Canal operated in bitter legal and commercial competition with one another as they vied for rights to the narrow strips of land along the Potomac.[25] When the Canal finally reached Cumberland in 1850, the Railroad had already arrived eight years before.[26] Debt-ridden, the Canal company dropped its plan to continue construction of the next 180 miles (290 km) of the Canal into the Ohio Valley.[27] The company had long realized—especially with the difficult experience of digging thePaw Paw Tunnel—that the original plan of construction over the mountains and all the way down theYoughiogheny River toPittsburgh was "wildly unrealistic".[28]
Public works financed at the state level were not lacking during this period. TheMain Line of Public Works was a transportation network project built between 1826 and 1834 by theCommonwealth of Pennsylvania. It created a railroad and canal system across southernPennsylvania betweenPhiladelphia andPittsburgh, intended to transport freight (notably includinganthracite coal) and people with greater reliability, speed and capacity. The Main Line of Public Works included thePhiladelphia and Columbia Railroad, theAllegheny Portage Railroad and thePennsylvania Canal system.
Lying astride the border separating theUnion andConfederacy, the Alleghenies were among the areas most directly affected by theAmerican Civil War (1861–1865). One of the earliest campaigns of the War was fought for control of the Staunton and Parkersburg Turnpike and for the access it provided to the B&O Railroad. TheBattle of Rich Mountain (July 11, 1861) gave the Federals control of the turnpike, of Tygart's Valley, and of all of the territory of western Virginia to the north and west, including the railroad. (Union GeneralGeorge McClellan's victory in this theater would ultimately bring him promotion to commander theArmy of the Potomac.) The Federals fortified atCheat Summit, and the Confederates established strongholds atCamp Bartow andCamp Allegheny. Here they faced each other warily through the fall of 1861 and the following winter. GeneralRobert E. Lee's attempt to attackCheat Summit Fort (September 12–15, 1861) and Federal attempts to attack Bartow and Allegheny, all failed to change the strategic stalemate. Finally, the harsh, high elevation winter achieved what the troops had failed to accomplish, and in the spring of 1862 both armies moved on down the pike to theBattle of McDowell (May 8, 1862), and then on to fight what became GeneralStonewall Jackson'sShenandoah Valley Campaign (spring 1862). Two years later, much of this contested area (along with much else) became part of the new state ofWest Virginia. The very rugged terrain of the Alleghenies was not at all amenable to a large-scale maneuver war and so the actions that the area witnessed for the remainder of the conflict were generallyguerrilla in nature.
With the further spread of the railroad networks in the 1890s and early 1900s, many new towns developed and thrived in the Alleghenies. The lumbering and coal industries that boomed in the wake of the railroads brought a measure of prosperity to the region, but most of the revenues flowed out of the mountains to the cities of theeastern seaboard where thecaptains of industry were headquartered. This inequity created a bitter legacy that would last for generations and form the foundation of themountaineers' poverty and the area's immenseenvironmental degradation.
The most momentous disaster to afflict the people of the Alleghenies was theJohnstown Flood—locally known as the "Great Flood of 1889"—which occurred on May 31 of that year after thecatastrophic failure of theSouth Fork Dam on theLittle Conemaugh River 14 miles (23 km) upstream of the town ofJohnstown, Pennsylvania. The dam broke after several days of extremely heavy rainfall, unleashing 20 million tons of water (18 million cubic meters) from the reservoir known asLake Conemaugh. (This body of water had been built as part of theMain Line of Public Works, then abandoned.) With a flow rate that temporarily equalled that of theMississippi River,[29] the flood killed 2,209 people[30] and caused US$17 million of damage (about $425 million in 2012 dollars). TheAmerican Red Cross, led byClara Barton and with 50 volunteers, undertook a majordisaster relief effort.[31] Support for victims came from all over the United States and 18 foreign countries. After the flood, survivors suffered a series of legal defeats in their attempts to recover damages from the dam's owners. Public indignation at that failure prompted the development in American law changing afault-based regime tostrict liability.
In the 1920s and '30s, Allegheny highways were extensively paved to provide access for automobiles.
From the 1950s to 1992, the United States government maintained a top secret continuity program known asProject Greek Island atThe Greenbrier hotel in the Alleghenies of southern West Virginia.
In August 1963, at theMarch on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, Dr.Martin Luther King Jr. referenced the Alleghenies—among several in an evocative list of mountains—in his famous "I Have a Dream" speech, when he said "Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!"[32]
TheFlight 93 National Memorial is located at the site of the crash ofUnited Airlines Flight 93—which washijacked in theSeptember 11 attacks—inStonycreek Township, Pennsylvania, about 2 miles (3.2 km) north ofShanksville. The memorial honors the passengers and crew of Flight 93, who stoppedAl-Qaeda terrorists from reaching their intended target.
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