| Allegheny River |
|
|
| Origin |
Raymond, PA |
| Mouth |
Ohio River |
| Basin countries |
USA |
| Length |
325 miles (523 km) |
| Source elevation |
~2,490 feet (759 m) |
| Avg. discharge |
16,700 cubic feet/s (1,503 m³/s) at Natrona |
| Basin area |
11,580 square miles (29,992 km²) |
Allegheny River watershed
Much of the area through which the Allegheny River flows consists of hilly woodlands.
Lock and Dam No. 2 on the Allegheny River in
Aspinwall, Pennsylvania. The
Highland Park Bridge crosses the river just above the dam.
The Allegheny (left) and Monongahela (right) join to form the Ohio River at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
The Allegheny River (also spelled Allegany River, especially in New York
state[citation needed]) is a principal tributary of the
Ohio River and is located in the eastern United
States. It forms the Ohio with the Monongahela River at downtown
Pittsburgh's "The Point" at Point State
Park.
The river is approximately 325 mi (523 km) long, running through the U.S. states
of New York and Pennsylvania. It drains a rural
dissected plateau of 11,580 sq mi (29,992 km²) in the northern
Allegheny Plateau, providing the northeastern most drainage in the watershed of the
Mississippi River. Its tributaries reach to within 8 mi (13 km) of
Lake Erie in southwestern New York. The valley of the river has been one of the most
productive areas of energy extraction in U.S. history, with extensive deposits of coal,
petroleum, and natural gas. The word "Allegheny" comes
from the Lenape (Delaware) Indians. Although it is usually translated as "fine river", the
meaning is not definitively known. There is a Lenape legend of a tribe called "Allegewi" who used to live along the river. Other
Indians, such as the Iroquois, considered the Allegheny and Ohio rivers as the same, as is
suggested by a New York State road sign on Interstate 86 that refers to the
Allegheny river secondarily as "O Hi Yo."[1]
Course
The Allegheny rises in north central Pennsylvania, in central Potter
County, approximately 10 mi (16 km) south of the New York border. It flows west past Coudersport then turns north into western New York State, looping westward across southern
Cattaraugus County for approximately 30 mi (48 km), past
St. Bonaventure University and Salamanca and forming the northern boundary of Allegany State
Park before re-entering northwestern Pennsylvania approximately 20 mi (32 km) southeast of Jamestown, New York.
It flows in a broad zigzag course generally southward across western Pennsylvania, first flowing southwest past
Warren, Oil City, and
Franklin, forming much of the northwestern boundary of
Allegheny National Forest. South of Franklin it turns southeast across
Clarion County in a meandering course,
then turns again southwest across Armstrong County, flowing past
Kittanning, Ford City, Clinton
and Freeport. It enters the Pittsburgh suburbs and the City of Pittsburgh from the northeast passing Karns & Natrona in
Harrison Township, Braeburn, Lower Burrell, Brackenridge, Tarentum, Creighton, Arnold, New Kensington, Springdale, Harmarville,
Blawnox, Fox Chapel, Sharpsburg, Etna, Millvale, Lawreneville, Highland Park, The North Side, Downtown Pittsburgh, Point State
Park and joins with the Monongahela River at "The Point" in Downtown Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania to form the Ohio River, which flows via the Mississippi River into the Gulf of Mexico.
Tributaries
In its upper reaches the Allegheny is joined from the south by Potato Creek in
McKean County, Pennsylvania and from the north by Olean Creek at Olean, New York. The Great Valley Creek and Little Valley Creek join
the river from the north in Salamanca, New York before becoming the Allegheny Reservoir. After re-entering Pennsylvania, it is joined from the east by Kinzua Creek 10 mi (16 km) upstream of Warren; from the north by Conewango Creek at Warren; from the north by Oil
Creek at Oil City; from the west by French Creek at Franklin; from
the east by the Clarion River, one of its principal tributaries, in eastern Clarion
County; from the east by Crooked Creek southeast of Kittanning; and from
the east by the Kiskiminetas River, another principal tributary, at Freeport. Buffalo Creek enters at Freeport, Bull Creek enters at Tarentum. There are many other
creeks, runs and streams that enter or join with The Allegheny River.
History
In the 16th century control of the river valley passed back-and-forth between
Algonquian-speaking Shawnee and the
Iroquois. By the time of the arrival of the French in the early
18th century, the Shawnee were once again in control and formed an alliance with the French
against the incursion of British settlement across the Allegheny Mountains. The conflict over the expansion of British settlement into the Allegheny Valley
and the surrounding Ohio Country was a primary cause of the French and Indian War in the 1750s. During the war,
the village of Kittaning, the principal Shawnee settlement on the river, was
completely destroyed by British reprisal raids from central Pennsylvania.
Nevertheless, the British, after gaining control of the area in the 1763 Treaty of
Paris, kept the area closed to white settlement, in part to repair and maintain relations with the Native Americans. The
pressure to open the river valley and the surrounding area to settlement is considered by historians to be one of the root causes
of the American Revolutionary War in the following decade.
During the 19th century, the river became a principal means of navigation in the upper
Ohio valley, especially for the transport of coal. Although the building of the railroads lessened
the importance of the river somewhat, the lower river (navigable as far as East Brady,
Pennsylvania through locks) has continued to serve as route of commercial transportation until the present day. In 1875,
the first U.S. petroleum was drilled north of the river at Titusville.
In 1965 the completion of the federally-sponsored Kinzua Dam for flood-control in northwestern Pennsylvania east of Warren created the long Allegheny Reservoir, part of which is included in the Allegheny National
Recreation Area. The dam flooded parts of lands deeded "forever" to the Seneca
tribe and to Cornplanter and his descendants. (The event is described in the
Johnny Cash tune "As Long as the Grass Shall Grow.")
Cities and towns along the Allegheny River
New York
Pennsylvania
See also
References
- ^ Stewart, George R. (1967, pg. 8)
Names on the Land. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.
External links
Online maps and aerial photos
Mouth or other endpoint (Pittsburgh)
Source (Unnamed pond near Raymond, Pennsylvania)
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