Allegheny Mountains
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Map of the Allegheny Mountains
View from Spruce Knob Observation Tower
The Allegheny Mountains form part of the Appalachian Mountains.
As Allegheny Mountains were referred before the entire field of Appalachia. The name of Alleghany, which the English settlers from the north gave the mountains, comes from the Indians and probably means "endless". It is sometimes found with this meaning even in older travel literature or in adventure novels that have North America as Handlungsort.
The Allegheny mountain range extends south-southwest over 800 km from north to Pennsylvania to the south-western Virginia. The highest mountain in Pennsylvania is Mt Davis ( 3,213 feet = 979 m); and the Spruce Knob ( 4,863 feet = 1,482 m) in West Virginia. They consist of nearly parallel north-east or south-west ridges, caused by the northern branch of the Potomac River and New -cut gorges. As part of the Monongahela, George Washington and Jefferson National Parks are known for their natural beauty. Once they were the natural border to the western regions - today they are crossed by railroads and highways.
Up to the Declaration of Independence in 1776, the Allegheny Mountains formed a natural border in the westward expansion.
The Allegheny Plateau
The Allegheny Plateau, also called the Alleghenies, forms the western part of the Appalachian Mountains and extends south-west from the valley of the Mohawk River in upstate New York to the Cumberland Plateau in southern West Virginia. The plateau was divided by currents and formed the Catskill, the Allegheny and other mountain ranges. The rivers Allegheny, Delaware, and Susquehanna flow through the northern part of the plateau, while the Ohio River flows through the sinful section. The plateau is covered mostly by forests of hardwood.
With the discovery of coal, the settlers began to flow and led to an early awakening from the isolation in this part of the Appalachians. The regional economy is heavily dependent on the mining of coal, natural gas and the petrochemical industry.
Source
- Allegheny Mountains in Encyclopedia Britannica
- Allegheny Plateau in Encyclopedia Britannica