The Allegheny River ( ) is a long headwater stream of the

Ohio River The Ohio River is a long river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing southwesterly from western Pennsylvania to its mouth on the Mississippi River at the southern tip of ...

in western

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

and New York. The Allegheny River runs from its headwaters just below the middle of Pennsylvania's northern border northwesterly into New York then in a zigzag southwesterly across the border and through

Western Pennsylvania Western Pennsylvania is a region in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, covering the western third of the state. Pittsburgh is the region's principal city, with a metropolitan area population of about 2.4 million people, and serves as its economic ...

to join the

Monongahela River The Monongahela River ( , )—often referred to locally as the Mon ()—is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed August 15, 2011 river on the Allegheny Plateau in north-c ...

at the Forks of the Ohio on the "Point" of Point State Park in Downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The Allegheny River is, by volume, the main headstream of both the Ohio and

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem), second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest Drainage system (geomorphology), drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson B ...

s. Historically, the Allegheny was considered to be the upper Ohio River by both Native Americans and European settlers. The shallow river has been made navigable upstream from Pittsburgh to East Brady by a series of locks and dams constructed in the early 20th century. A 24-mile long portion of the upper river in Warren and McKean counties of Pennsylvania and

Cattaraugus County Cattaraugus County (locally known as Catt County) is a county in Western New York, with one side bordering Pennsylvania. As of the United States 2020 census, the population was 77,042. The county seat is Little Valley. The county was create ...

in New York is the Allegheny Reservoir, created by the erection of the Kinzua Dam in 1965 for

flood control Flood control methods are used to reduce or prevent the detrimental effects of flood waters."Flood Control", MSN Encarta, 2008 (see below: Further reading). Flood relief methods are used to reduce the effects of flood waters or high water level ...

. The name of the river comes from one of a number of

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent ...

/ Unami phrases which are homophones of the English name, with varying translations.

Etymology

The name ''Allegheny'' probably comes from

Lenape The Lenape (, , or Lenape , del, Lënapeyok) also called the Leni Lenape, Lenni Lenape and Delaware people, are an indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, who live in the United States and Canada. Their historical territory inclu ...

''welhik hane'' or ''oolikhanna,'' which means 'best flowing river of the hills' or 'beautiful stream'. There is a Lenape legend of a tribe called "Allegewi" who used to live along the river. Hernando de Soto in 1540 and others such as Henry Schoolcraft in subsequent years report the "Allegewi" were the

Cherokee The Cherokee (; chr, ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯᎢ, translit=Aniyvwiyaʔi or Anigiduwagi, or chr, ᏣᎳᎩ, links=no, translit=Tsalagi) are one of the indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, th ...

s. The following account of the origin of the name ''Allegheny'' was given in 1780 by Moravian missionary David Zeisberger: "All this land and region, stretching as far as the creeks and waters that flow into the Alleghene the Delawares called Alligewinenk, which means 'a land into which they came from distant parts'. The river itself, however, is called Alligewi Sipo. The whites have made Alleghene out of this, the Six Nations calling the river the Ohio." Indians, including the Lenni Lenape and

Iroquois The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian Peoples, Iroquoian-speaking Confederation#Indigenous confederations in North America, confederacy of First Nations in Canada, First Natio ...

, 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 also as ''Ohiːyo. The

Geographic Names Information System The Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) is a database of name and locative information about more than two million physical and cultural features throughout the United States and its territories, Antarctica, and the associated states of ...

lists ''O-hee-yo'' and ''O-hi-o'' as variant names. The river is called Ohi:'i:o` (river beautiful) in the Seneca language. In New York, areas around the river are often named with the alternate spelling ''Allegany'' in reference to the river; for example, the Village of Allegany and Allegany State Park. Port Allegany, located along the river in Pennsylvania near the border with New York, also follows this pattern.

Course

The Allegheny River rises in north central Pennsylvania, on Cobb Hill in Allegany Township in north central Potter County,''Sweden Valley, PA,'' 7.5 Minute Topographic Quadrangle, USGS, 1969 (1972 rev.) 8 miles (16 km) south of the New York–Pennsylvania border and a few miles northwest of the eastern triple divide. The stream flows south and passes under

Pennsylvania Route 49 Pennsylvania Route 49 (PA 49) is a state highway located in northern Pennsylvania. The western terminus of the route is at Pennsylvania Route 44, PA 44 three miles (5 km) north of Coudersport, Pennsylvania, Coudersport. The eastern terminus is at ...

11 miles northeast of Coudersport where a historical marker that declares the start of the river is located. Cobb Hill is about a mile north. The stream flows southwest paralleling Route 49 to Coudersport. It continues west to Port Allegany then turns north into western New York, looping westward across southern

for approximately 30 miles (48 km), past Portville, Olean, Allegany and Salamanca and flowing through Seneca Indian Nation lands close to the northern boundary of Allegany State Park before re-entering northwestern Pennsylvania within the Allegheny Reservoir just east of the Warren- McKean county line, approx. 10 miles (32 km) northeast of Warren. It flows in a broad zigzag course generally southwest across

; first flowing southwest past Warren,

Tidioute Tidioute is a borough in Warren County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 688 at the 2010 census. Etymology The name is an Iroquoian word meaning "protrusion of land", referring to a sharp bend in the Allegheny River. Geography Ti ...

, Tionesta, 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

meander A meander is one of a series of regular sinuous curves in the channel of a river or other watercourse. It is produced as a watercourse erodes the sediments of an outer, concave bank ( cut bank) and deposits sediments on an inner, convex ban ...

ing course, then turns again southwest across Armstrong County, flowing past Kittanning, Ford City, Clinton, and Freeport. USACE Lock and Dam 2 Allegheny

The river enters both Allegheny and Westmoreland counties, the Pittsburgh suburbs, and the

City of Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsyl ...

from the northeast. It passes the North Side, downtown Pittsburgh, and Point State Park. The Allegheny joins with the

at the "Point" in downtown Pittsburgh to form the

Hydrography

The

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of ...

is approximately long, running through the U.S. states of New York and

. It drains a rural

dissected plateau A dissected plateau is a plateau area that has been severely eroded such that the relief is sharp. Such an area may be referred to as mountainous, but dissected plateaus are distinguishable from orogenic mountain belts by the lack of folding, ...

of in the northern Allegheny Plateau, providing the northeasternmost drainage in the watershed of the Mississippi River. Its tributaries reach to within of

Lake Erie Lake Erie ( "eerie") is the fourth largest lake by surface area of the five Great Lakes in North America and the eleventh-largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also ha ...

in southwestern New York. Water from the Allegheny River eventually flows into the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United ...

via the Ohio and

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

rivers. The Allegheny Valley has been one of the most productive areas of

fossil fuel A fossil fuel is a hydrocarbon-containing material formed naturally in the Earth's crust from the remains of dead plants and animals that is extracted and burned as a fuel. The main fossil fuels are coal, oil, and natural gas. Fossil fuels ma ...

extraction in United States history, with its extensive deposits of

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when ...

petroleum Petroleum, also known as crude oil, or simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name ''petroleum'' covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crud ...

, and

natural gas Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbon d ...

Tributaries

In its upper reaches, the Allegheny River is joined from the south by Potato Creek downstream of Coryville, Pennsylvania and from the north by

Olean Creek Olean can refer to: * Olean, Indiana * Olean, Missouri * Olean, New York, the largest city named Olean **Olean (town), New York, a surrounding municipality * Olestra, an artificial fat substitute * Oleane Oleane was one of the first ISPs in Fr ...

at Olean, New York. Tunungwant "Tuna" Creek joins the river from the south in Carrollton, New York (flowing north from Bradford, Pennsylvania); the

Great Valley Creek Great may refer to: Descriptions or measurements * Great, a relative measurement in physical space, see Size * Greatness, being divine, majestic, superior, majestic, or transcendent People * List of people known as "the Great" *Artel Great ...

and Little Valley Creek join the river from the north at Salamanca, New York before becoming the Allegheny Reservoir. After re-entering Pennsylvania, the river is joined from the east by

Kinzua Creek Kinzua Creek is a tributary of the Allegheny River in McKean County, Pennsylvania in the United States.Gertler, Edward. ''Keystone Canoeing'', Seneca Press, 2004. The upper reaches of the creek pass through Kinzua Bridge State Park, where th ...

upstream of Warren; from the north by

Conewango Creek Conewango Creek is a tributary of the Allegheny River in Pennsylvania and western New York in the United States. The creek's drainage covers much of southeastern Chautauqua County, New York, and western Cattaraugus County, New York. The creek's ...

at Warren; from the west by

Brokenstraw Creek Brokenstraw Creek is a tributary of the Allegheny River in Warren County, Pennsylvania, Warren County, Pennsylvania in the United States.Gertler, Edward. ''Keystone Canoeing'', Seneca Press, 2004. Brokenstraw Creek is made up of two smaller str ...

; from the east by East Hickory Creek at East Hickory; from the east by

Tionesta Creek Tionesta Creek is a tributary of the Allegheny River in Forest, Clarion, Warren, McKean, and Elk Counties in Pennsylvania in the United States. Together with its West Branch, Tionesta Creek is long, flows generally south, and its watershed is ...

at Tionesta; from the north by Oil Creek at Oil City; from the west by French Creek at Franklin; from the east by the

Clarion River The Clarion River is a tributary of the Allegheny River, approximately 110 mi (177 km) long, in west central Pennsylvania in the United States. It drains a rugged area of the Allegheny Plateau in the Ohio River watershed, flowing through ...

, a principal tributary, at Parker; from the east by Crooked Creek southeast of Kittanning; and from the east by the Kiskiminetas River, another principal tributary, at Schenley. Buffalo Creek enters at Freeport, Chartiers Run enters at Lower Burrell, Bull Creek enters at Tarentum,

Pucketa Creek Pucketa Creek is a tributary of the Allegheny River located in both Allegheny and Westmoreland counties in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. Course Pucketa Creek joins the Allegheny River where the creek forms the boundary between both the city o ...

enters near New Kensington,

Riddle Run Riddle Run is a tributary of the Allegheny River located in Allegheny County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. Course Riddle Run joins the Allegheny River at the borough of Springdale. See also * List of rivers of Pennsylvania * List of t ...

enters at Springdale, and Girtys Run enters at Millvale. Many additional

stream A stream is a continuous body of surface water flowing within the bed and banks of a channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a stream may be referred to by a variety of local or regional names. Long large streams ...

s enter or join with the Allegheny River along its course.

Locks, dams and bridges

Several locks were built in the early 20th century to make the Allegheny River navigable for 72 miles upstream from Pittsburgh to East Brady. The Allegheny River has eight locks and

fixed-crest dam A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use ...

s numbered two through nine: Allegheny River Lock and Dam No. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 which form corresponding reservoirs. The river is also impounded by the Kinzua Dam in northwestern Pennsylvania, resulting in the Allegheny Reservoir also known as Kinzua Lake and Lake Perfidy among the Seneca. The

Seneca Pumped Storage Generating Station The Seneca Pumped Storage Generating Station is a hydroelectric power plant using pumped storage of water to generate electric power. It is located near Warren, Pennsylvania in Warren County. Seneca Station is colocated with the Kinzua Dam, ne ...

is associated with Kinzua Dam. Numerous bridges and tunnels span the river throughout its course. The Allegheny River Tunnel, utilized by Pittsburgh Light Rail, went into service in 2012.

History

In the latter half of the 17th century, control of the river

valley A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains, which will typically contain a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams ove ...

passed back-and-forth between Algonquian-speaking

Shawnee The Shawnee are an Algonquian-speaking indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands. In the 17th century they lived in Pennsylvania, and in the 18th century they were in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, with some bands in Kentucky a ...

and the

. By the time of the arrival of the

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

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 Allegheny Mountain Range (; also spelled Alleghany or Allegany), informally the Alleghenies, is part of the vast Appalachian Mountain Range of the Eastern United States and Canada and posed a significant barrier to land travel in less devel ...

. 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 The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was a theater of the Seven Years' War, which pitted the North American colonies of the British Empire against those of the French, each side being supported by various Native American tribes. At the st ...

in the 1750s. During the war, the village of Kittanning – 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. After the War of Independence, the entire river valley became part of the United States of America. 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 a route of commercial transportation until the present day. In 1859, the first U.S. petroleum was drilled north of the river at Titusville. One of the underlying premises of the

Genesee Valley Canal The Genesee Valley Canal is a former canal that operated in central New York between 1840 and 1878. It ran for a length of 124 miles, passing through 106 locks. Its course was later used by the Genesee Valley Canal Railroad and today comprises po ...

was its connection to the river, opening a trade route from Rochester, New York to the west. The advent of the railroads obviated any interest Pennsylvania might have had in participating to improve navigation on the river. The canal was closed in 1877 and the right-of-way sold to the Genesee Valley Canal Railroad. Cornplanter

In 1965, the completion of the federally sponsored Kinzua Dam for

flood A flood is an overflow of water ( or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are an area of study of the discipline hydrol ...

-control in northwestern Pennsylvania east of Warren created the long Allegheny Reservoir, known as Lake Perfidy among the Seneca, part of which is included in the Allegheny National Recreation Area. The dam flooded parts of lands deeded "forever" to the Seneca Nation of Indians by the 1794 Treaty of Canandaigua, and lands given to Cornplanter and his descendants. The event was described in the

Johnny Cash John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American country singer-songwriter. Much of Cash's music contained themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially in the later stages of his c ...

song "As Long as the Grass Shall Grow" from the 1964 album '' Bitter Tears: Ballads of the American Indian'', which focused on the history of and problems facing Native Americans in the United States. The construction of the dam and the filling of the Allegheny Reservoir also necessitated the elimination of the small village of Corydon, which was located at the confluence of Willow Creek with the Allegheny River; and the small village of Kinzua, which was located at the confluence of Kinzua Creek with the Allegheny River. All residents of both villages were forced to move. USACE Kinzua Dam upriver

Many prominent individuals opposed the construction of the dam at that time because of the damage it would do to Seneca lands, including Pennsylvania Congressman

John P. Saylor John Phillips Saylor (July 23, 1908 – October 28, 1973) was a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania serving from 1949 until his death from a heart attack in Houston, Texas in 1973. Biography Saylor was ...

of Johnstown, and

Howard Zahniser Howard Clinton Zahniser (February 25, 1906 – May 5, 1964) was an American environmental activist. For nearly 20 years, he helped lead The Wilderness Society as executive secretary, executive director, and editor of ''The Living Wilderness'', fro ...

, executive director of The Wilderness Society and native of Tionesta—a small settlement located along the Allegheny River several miles downstream from Warren. During the campaign for the

1960 United States presidential election The 1960 United States presidential election was the 44th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 8, 1960. In a closely contested election, Democratic United States Senator John F. Kennedy defeated the incumbent V ...

, John F. Kennedy assured the Seneca Nation that he would oppose the dam if elected. However, he failed to follow through on his pledge upon becoming president. In 1992, of the Allegheny River was designated

Wild and Scenic The National Wild and Scenic Rivers System was created by the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1968 (Public Law 90-542), enacted by the U.S. Congress to preserve certain rivers with outstanding natural, cultural, and recreational values in a free- ...

. This designation comprises three segments of the river located in Warren,

Forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

, and Venango counties. In 2008,

Katie Spotz Katie Spotz FitzGerald (born 1987) is an American adventurer who became the youngest person to row solo across the Atlantic Ocean, departing from Dakar, Senegal on January 3, 2010, and landing in Guyana on March 14, 2010. She was the first person ...

became the first person to swim the entire of the Allegheny River; she was accompanied by safety kayaker, James Hendershott. The team began at the river's source in Warren, Pennsylvania on July 22 and finished at the "Point" in Downtown Pittsburgh on August 21.

Settlements

New York

* Allegany * Carrollton * Jimerson Town * Olean * Portville *

St. Bonaventure Bonaventure ( ; it, Bonaventura ; la, Bonaventura de Balneoregio; 1221 – 15 July 1274), born Giovanni di Fidanza, was an Italian Catholic Franciscan, bishop, cardinal, scholastic theologian and philosopher. The seventh Minister G ...

* Salamanca * Weston Mills

Pennsylvania

* Applewold *

Arnold Arnold may refer to: People * Arnold (given name), a masculine given name * Arnold (surname), a German and English surname Places Australia * Arnold, Victoria, a small town in the Australian state of Victoria Canada * Arnold, Nova Scotia U ...

* Aspinwall * Blawnox * Brackenridge * Cheswick * Coudersport *Creighton, Pennsylvania, Creighton * East Brady *East Hickory, Pennsylvania, East Hickory *Eldred, Pennsylvania, Eldred *Emlenton, Pennsylvania, Emlenton *Etna, Pennsylvania, Etna * Ford City *Foxburg, Pennsylvania, Foxburg * Franklin * Freeport *Harmarville, Pennsylvania, Harmarville *Kennerdell, Pennsylvania, Kennerdell * Kittanning *Lower Burrell, Pennsylvania, Lower Burrell *Manorville, Pennsylvania, Manorville *Millvale, Pennsylvania, Millvale *Natrona, Pennsylvania, Natrona *New Kensington, Pennsylvania, New Kensington *Oakmont, Pennsylvania, Oakmont * Oil City *Parker, Pennsylvania, Parker *Penn Hills, Pennsylvania, Penn Hills *Pittsburgh *Plum, Pennsylvania, Plum * Port Allegany *Roulette, Pennsylvania, Roulette *Schenley, Pennsylvania, Schenley *Sharpsburg, Pennsylvania, Sharpsburg *Springdale, Pennsylvania, Springdale *Starbrick, Pennsylvania, Starbrick *Tarentum, Pennsylvania, Tarentum *Templeton, Pennsylvania, Templeton *Tidioute, Pennsylvania, Tidioute * Tionesta *Verona, Pennsylvania, Verona * Warren *West Hickory, Pennsylvania, West Hickory *West Kittanning, Pennsylvania, West Kittanning *Woodland Heights, Pennsylvania, Woodland Heights *Youngsville, Pennsylvania, Youngsville

References

External links

U.S. Geological Survey: PA stream gaging stations
{{Authority control Allegheny River, Allegheny River Rivers of New York (state) Rivers of Pennsylvania Tributaries of the Ohio River Wild and Scenic Rivers of the United States Geography of Pittsburgh Rivers of Cattaraugus County, New York Rivers of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania Rivers of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania Rivers of Armstrong County, Pennsylvania Rivers of Clarion County, Pennsylvania Rivers of Venango County, Pennsylvania Rivers of Butler County, Pennsylvania Rivers of Forest County, Pennsylvania Rivers of Warren County, Pennsylvania Rivers of McKean County, Pennsylvania Rivers of Potter County, Pennsylvania