Allegheny Mountains

The Allegheny Mountains ( AL-ih-GAY-nee) are a mountain range situated in the eastern United States. A sub-range of the much vaster Appalachian Mountains, they extend roughly 300 miles (480 km) along a northeast-southwest orientation from north-central Pennsylvania southwestward, through western Maryland and eastern West Virginia. The peaks further continue into portions of Virginia and Tennessee as the Cumberland Mountains—which are essentially part of the same landform—while giving way to the Ridge and Valley Appalachians in the east and northeast. The Alleghenies comprise a rugged central portion of the Appalachians, rising to 4,862 feet (1,482 m) at Spruce Mountain in Pendleton County, West Virginia. In the east, they are dominated by a high, steep escarpment known as the Allegheny Front. In the west, they slope down into the closely associated Allegheny Plateau, which extends into portions of Ohio, Kentucky, and Upstate New York. The mountains consist primarily of sandstone and quartzite, the latter of which is extremely resistant to weathering and has allowed the range to maintain much of its height for millions of years. Technically belonging to the Appalachian Plateau province rather than geologically being a "true" mountain range, they have nevertheless been dissected by various watercourses. Much of the Allegheny Mountains are public lands, most prominently including the Monongahela National Forest, while other tracts are privately owned. Many of these public lands are open to recreation. Their principal settlements are Altoona and Johnstown, Pennsylvania; Cumberland, Maryland; and Elkins, West Virginia. The range has continuously been inhabited by Indigenous groups of Algonquian, Siouan, Iroquoian, and other extractions for millennia. It presented a significant barrier to westward expansion for English colonists—later Americans—which was gradually bridged by various roads, canals, and eventually railroads. The mountains were long dominated by the coal mining and lumber industries, and the regional economy has been detrimentally...