450px, Location of Kittanning Gap, along a tributary of the Kittanning Run. The Kittanning Run is one of the several streams draining the Allegheny Plateau, each one cutting an abrupt valley, one of the gaps of the Allegheny— one of several climbing valleys used for centuries by the Amerindian

native peoples Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

to pass East-to-West through the

Allegheny Front The Allegheny Front is the major southeast- or east-facing escarpment in the Allegheny Mountains in southern Pennsylvania, western Maryland, eastern West Virginia, and western Virginia, USA. The Allegheny Front forms the boundary between the Rid ...

escarpment An escarpment is a steep slope or long cliff that forms as a result of faulting or erosion and separates two relatively level areas having different elevations. The terms ''scarp'' and ''scarp face'' are often used interchangeably with ''escar ...

, a

barrier ridge The terms barrier ridge, a term of art in the earth sciences, especially geology and sometimes barrier range (more common as a geography term) describing the existence of gross landforms describing long ridgelines which are particularly difficult ...

separating the flat highlands plateau, the

Appalachian Plateau The Appalachian Plateau is a series of rugged dissected plateaus located on the western side of the Appalachian Mountains. The Appalachian Mountains are a mountain range that run down the Eastern United States. The Appalachian Plateau is the nort ...

—from the many barrier ridges making up the local Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians in the

Central Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...

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, ...

heartland. The stream was very likely followed by the

Kittanning Path The Kittanning Path was a major east-west Native American trail that crossed the Allegheny Mountains barrier ridge connecting the Susquehanna River valleys in the center of Pennsylvania to the highlands of the Appalachian Plateau and thence to ...

connecting the Indian communities west of the Alleghenies, especially Kittanning Village with the large Indian settlements in the Susquehanna Valley ''and points east'' though the naming of the divergent run up through the Kittanning Gap suggests settlers may have bent the trail up to the plateau along a wider shallower grade, perhaps more suitable to settlers carts and Conestoga wagons migrating west. Unlike the

Pennsylvania Canal System The Pennsylvania Canal (or sometimes Pennsylvania Canal system) was a complex system of transportation infrastructure improvements including canals, dams, locks, tow paths, aqueducts, and viaducts. The Canal and Works were constructed and assemb ...

which built the Allegheny Portage Railroad for the 1845

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

line chartered (ordered, in effect) to cross 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 challenge of constructing a railroad through the ridge led to the construction of the unique Horseshoe Curve in 1854, once trumpeted as the world's busiest railway, and now designated as a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

History

In the 18th century the

passed through the gap, providing a route between central and western Pennsylvania for Native Americans and early white settlers. Why the gap is left of the Kittanning Run can only be speculated upon, but a topographical examination suggests for 16th-19th century peoples ''on foot or pulling a cart or Conestoga wagon'', turning right up the gap would lead them across gentler climbing terrains, so may have been the path of choice up onto the tableland above versus the climbs along either bigger stream. {{authority control Rivers of Pennsylvania Rivers of Blair County, Pennsylvania Rivers of Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania