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149-533: The Alleghenies comprise the rugged western-central portion of the Appalachians . They rise to approximately 4,862 feet (1,482 m) in northeastern 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 Ohio and Kentucky . The principal settlements of

298-502: A cave bat . Bobcat , snowshoe hare , wild boar and black bear and coyote are also found in the forests and parks of the Alleghenies. Mink and beaver are much less often seen. These mountains and plateau have over 20 species of reptiles represented as lizard, skink, turtle and snake. Some of the icterid birds visit the mountains as well as the hermit thrush and wood thrush . North American migrant birds live throughout

447-569: A dispute over the extent of lands belonging to either Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron or to the English Privy Council . An expedition of 1736 by John Savage established the location of the source of the North Branch Potomac River . In March 1742, a frontiersman named John Howard—along with his son and others—had been commissioned by Governor Gooch to explore the southwest of Virginia as far as

596-472: A fragile ecosystem known as the Southern Appalachian spruce–fir forest . Fraser fir rarely occurs below 5,500 ft (1,700 m), and becomes the dominant tree type at 6,200 ft (1,900 m). By contrast, balsam fir is found from near sea level to the tree line in the northern Appalachians, but ranges only as far south as Virginia and West Virginia in the central Appalachians, where it

745-735: A great thickness of sediment accumulated. Eventually, the tectonic forces pulling the two continents apart became so strong that an ocean formed off the eastern coast of the Laurentian margin. This was called the Iapetus Ocean and was the precursor of the modern Atlantic Ocean. The rocks of the Valley and Ridge province formed over millions of years, in the Iapetus. Shells and other hard parts of ancient marine plants and animals accumulated to form limey deposits that later became limestone. This

894-673: A lesser extent, British stock. The Braddock Road was superseded by the Cumberland Road —also called the National Road—one of the first major improved highways in the United States to be built by the federal government . Construction began in 1811 at Cumberland and the road reached Wheeling, Virginia (now West Virginia) on the Ohio River in 1818. Just to the south, the state-funded Staunton and Parkersburg Turnpike

1043-614: A little over seven dozen cave invertebrates. The indigenous people inhabiting the Allegheny Mountains emerged from the greater region's archaic and mound building cultures , particularly the Adena and Eastern Woodland peoples with a later Hopewellian influence. These Late Middle Woodland culture people have been called the Montaine (c. A.D. 500 to 1000) culture. Their neighbors, the woodland Buck Garden culture, lived in

1192-565: A lower Greenbrier Valley map during the earlier decades of the 18th century. As early as 1719, new arrivals from Europe began to cross the lower Susquehanna River and settle illegally in defiance of the Board of Property in Pennsylvania, on un-warranted land of the northeastern drainage rivers of the Allegheny Mountains. Several Indian Nations requested the removal of "Maryland Intruders". Some of these moved onward as territory opened up beyond

1341-534: A major disaster relief effort. Support for victims came from all over the United States and 18 foreign countries. After the flood, survivors suffered a series of legal defeats in their attempts to recover damages from the dam's owners. Public indignation at that failure prompted the development in American law changing a fault -based regime to strict liability . In the 1920s and '30s, Allegheny highways were extensively paved to provide access for automobiles. From

1490-687: A military trail— Braddock Road —was blazed and opened by the Ohio Company in 1751. (It followed an earlier Indian and pioneer trail known as Nemacolin's Path .) Braddock Road connected Cumberland, Maryland (the upper limit of navigation on the Potomac River) and the forks of the Ohio River (the future Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania ). It received its name from the British leader of the French and Indian War (1754–63), General Edward Braddock , who led

1639-502: A name for the tribe and region spreading well inland to the north. Pánfilo de Narváez 's expedition first entered Apalachee territory on June 15, 1528, and applied the name. Now spelled "Appalachian", it is the fourth-oldest surviving European place-name in the US. After the 1540 expedition of Hernando de Soto , Spanish cartographers began to apply the name of the tribe to the mountains themselves. The first cartographic appearance of Apalchen

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1788-665: A network of diverging canals and natural waterways. As such, the land is not clearly divisible between the Gulf of Mexico watershed and the Atlantic watershed. The exact route of the ECD shifts over time due to erosion, tectonic activity, construction projects, and other factors. Because the divide is at or in proximity to the highest terrain, air is forced upwards regardless of wind direction. This process of orographic enhancement leads to higher precipitation than surrounding areas. In winter,

1937-672: A new ocean opened up, the Rheic Ocean , during the Middle to Late Devonian, and subsequently its closure would result in the formation of the Alleghanian orogeny . As the continental plates moved closer together, fragments of oceanic crust, islands, and other continental masses collided with the eastern margin of ancestral North America. By this time, plants had appeared on land, followed by scorpions, insects, and amphibians. The ocean continued to shrink until, about 270 million years ago,

2086-504: A number of deciduous rhododendrons (azaleas), and smaller heaths such as teaberry ( Gaultheria procumbens ) and trailing arbutus ( Epigaea repens ). The evergreen great rhododendron ( Rhododendron maximum ) is characteristic of moist stream valleys. These occurrences are in line with the prevailing acidic character of most oak forest soils. In contrast, the much rarer chinquapin oak ( Quercus muehlenbergii ) demands alkaline soils and generally grows where limestone rock

2235-444: A number of serious insect and disease outbreaks. Among the most conspicuous is that of the introduced spongy moth ( Lymantria dispar ), which infests primarily oaks, causing severe defoliation and tree mortality. But it also has the benefit of eliminating weak individuals, and thus improving the genetic stock, as well as creating rich habitat of a type through accumulation of dead wood. Because hardwoods sprout so readily, this moth

2384-734: A portion of the Eastern Continental Divide in this area. A number of impressive gorges and valleys drain the Alleghenies: to the east, Smoke Hole Canyon ( South Branch Potomac River ), and to the west the New River Gorge and the Blackwater and Cheat Canyons . Thus, about half the precipitation falling on the Alleghenies makes its way west to the Mississippi and half goes east to Chesapeake Bay and

2533-577: A possible Fort Ancient (c. AD 850 to 1680) presence during the 15th century. Washington Boro ceramics have been found on the Barton (18AG3) and Llewellyn (18AG26) sites in Maryland on the northeastern slopes of the late Susquehannock sequence. The early Monongahela (c. AD 900 to 1630) are called the Drew Tradition in Pennsylvania. According to archeologist Richard L. George: "I believe that some of

2682-544: A variety of oaks ( Quercus spp.), hickories ( Carya spp.) and, in the past, by the American chestnut ( Castanea dentata ). The American chestnut was virtually eliminated as a canopy species by the introduced fungal chestnut blight ( Cryphonectaria parasitica ), but lives on as sapling-sized sprouts that originate from roots, which are not killed by the fungus. In present-day forest canopies, chestnut has been largely replaced by oaks. The oak forests of

2831-641: A variety of other destructive activities continue, albeit in diminished forms; and thus far only a few ecologically based management practices have taken hold. Appalachian bogs are boreal ecosystems , which occur in many places in the Appalachians, particularly the Allegheny and Blue Ridge subranges. Though popularly called bogs , many of them are technically fens . Eastern Continental Divide Download coordinates as: The Eastern Continental Divide , Eastern Divide or Appalachian Divide

2980-590: Is a hydrological divide in eastern North America that separates the easterly Atlantic Seaboard watershed from the westerly Gulf of Mexico watershed. The divide nearly spans the United States from south of Lake Ontario through the Florida peninsula, and consists of raised terrain including the Appalachian Mountains to the north, the southern Piedmont Plateau and lowland ridges in

3129-483: Is a boreal species that forms a few high elevation outliers as far south as West Virginia. All of these species except white pine tend to occupy sandy, rocky, poor soil sites, which are mostly acidic in character. White pine, a large species valued for its timber, tends to do best in rich, moist soil, either acidic or alkaline in character. Pitch pine is also at home in acidic, boggy soil, and Table Mountain pine may occasionally be found in this habitat as well. Shortleaf pine

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3278-616: Is at the Mason–Dixon line and the southern is at the West Virginia-Virginia border on Peters Mountain . The bedrock of the Alleghenies is mostly sandstone and metamorphosed sandstone, quartzite , which is extremely resistant to weathering. Prominent beds of resistant conglomerate can be found in some areas, such as the Dolly Sods . When it weathers, it leaves behind a pure white quartzite gravel. The rock layers of

3427-403: Is found at high elevations in the northern Appalachians, and in bogs as far south as Pennsylvania. The Appalachians are also home to two species of fir, the boreal balsam fir ( Abies balsamea ), and the southern high elevation endemic, Fraser fir ( Abies fraseri ). Fraser fir is endemic to the highest parts of the southern Appalachian Mountains, where along with red spruce it forms

3576-533: Is generally found in warmer habitats and at lower elevations than the other species. All the species listed do best in open or lightly shaded habitats, although white pine also thrives in shady coves, valleys, and on floodplains. The Appalachians are characterized by a wealth of large, beautiful deciduous broadleaf (hardwood) trees. Their occurrences are best summarized and described in E. Lucy Braun 's 1950 classic, Deciduous Forests of Eastern North America (Macmillan, New York). The most diverse and richest forests are

3725-647: Is managed by the U.S. Forest Service .) The Alleghenies also include a number of federally designated wilderness areas , such as the Dolly Sods Wilderness , Laurel Fork Wilderness , and Cranberry Wilderness in West Virginia. The mostly completed Allegheny Trail , a project of the West Virginia Scenic Trails Association since 1975, runs the length of the range within West Virginia. The northern terminus

3874-414: Is near the surface. Hence no ericaceous shrubs are associated with it. The Appalachian flora also include a diverse assemblage of bryophytes (mosses and liverworts), as well as fungi . Some species are rare and/or endemic. As with vascular plants , these tend to be closely related to the character of the soils and the thermal environment in which they are found. Eastern deciduous forests are subject to

4023-525: Is not as harmful as the hemlock woolly adelgid . Perhaps more serious is the introduced beech bark disease complex, which includes both a scale insect ( Cryptococcus fagisuga ) and fungal components. During the 19th and early 20th centuries, the Appalachian forests were subject to severe and destructive logging and land clearing, which resulted in the designation of the national forests and parks as well many state-protected areas. However, these and

4172-476: Is now the southern United States, the Ococee Basin was formed. Seawater filled the basin. Rivers from the surrounding countryside carried clay, silt, sand, and gravel to the basin, much as rivers today carry sediment from the midcontinent region to the Gulf of Mexico. The sediment spread out in layers on the basin floor. The basin continued to subside, and over a long period of time, probably millions of years,

4321-469: Is on Diego Gutiérrez 's map of 1562; the first use for the mountain range is the map of Jacques le Moyne de Morgues in 1565. The name was not commonly used for the whole mountain range until the late 19th century. A competing and often more popular name was the "Allegheny Mountains", "Alleghenies", and even "Alleghania". In the early 19th century, Washington Irving proposed renaming the United States either Appalachia or Alleghania. In U.S. dialects in

4470-552: Is possible that the cratons of Kalahari , and Rio Plato , were also part of that early collision since they were present as Rodinia broke up). Mountain-building referred to as the Grenville Orogeny occurred along the boundaries of the cratons. The present Appalachian Mountains have at least two areas which are made from rock formations that were formed during this orogeny - the Blue Ridge Mountains and

4619-659: Is sometimes termed the Appalachian orogeny , writing communities struggle to agree on an encyclopedic definition of the mountain range. However, each of the governments has an agency that informs the public about the major landforms that make up the countries, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and the Geological Survey of Canada (GSC). The landforms are referred to as physiographic regions. The regions create precise boundaries from which maps can be drawn. The Appalachian Highlands

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4768-545: Is still served by a rather sparse secondary highway system and remains considerably lower in population density than surrounding regions. In the telecommunications field, a unique impediment to development in the central Allegheny region is the United States National Radio Quiet Zone (NRQZ), a large rectangle of land—about 13,000 square miles (34,000 km)—that straddles the border area of Virginia and West Virginia. Created in 1958 by

4917-645: Is subject to the hemlock woolly adelgid ( Adelges tsugae ), an introduced insect, that is rapidly extirpating it as a forest tree. Less abundant, and restricted to the southern Appalachians, is Carolina hemlock ( Tsuga caroliniana ). Like Canada hemlock, this tree suffers severely from the hemlock woolly adelgid. Several species of pines characteristic of the Appalachians are eastern white pine ( Pinus strobus ), Virginia pine ( Pinus virginiana ), pitch pine ( Pinus rigida ), Table Mountain pine ( Pinus pungens ) and shortleaf pine ( Pinus echinata ). Red pine ( Pinus resinosa )

5066-460: Is the name of one of the eight physiographic regions of the contiguous 48 United States. The Appalachian Uplands is the name of one of seven physiographic regions of Canada. The second level in the physiographic classification schema for the USGS is "province", the same word as Canada uses to divide its political subdivisions, meaning that the terminology used by the two countries do not match below

5215-506: Is the same process by which limestone forms in modern oceans. The weathering of limestone, now exposed at the land surface, produces the lime-rich soils that are so prevalent in the fertile farmland of the Valley and Ridge province. During this continental break-up, around 600 million to 560 million years ago, volcanic activity was present along the tectonic margins. There is evidence of this activity in today's Blue Ridge Mountains. Mount Rogers , Whitetop Mountain , and Pine Mountain are all

5364-464: Is usually confined above 3,900 ft (1,200 m) asl, except in cold valleys. Curiously, it is associated with oaks in Virginia. The balsam fir of Virginia and West Virginia is thought by some to be a natural hybrid between the more northern variety and Fraser fir. While red spruce is common in both upland and bog habitats, balsam fir, as well as black spruce and tamarack, are more characteristic of

5513-628: The Adirondacks . After the Grenville orogeny, the direction of the continental drift reversed, and the single supercontinent Rodinia began to break up. The mountains formed during the Grenvillian era underwent erosion due to weathering, glaciation, and other natural processes, resulting in the leveling of the landscape. The eroded sediments from these mountains contributed to the formation of sedimentary basins and valleys. For example, in what

5662-518: The Alps and the Rockies before natural erosion occurred over the last 240 million years leading to what is present today. The Appalachian Mountains are a barrier to east–west travel, as they form a series of alternating ridgelines and valleys oriented in opposition to most highways and railroads running east–west. This barrier was extremely important in shaping the expansion of the United States in

5811-411: The Appalachians , are a mountain range in eastern to northeastern North America . The term "Appalachian" refers to several different regions associated with the mountain range, and its surrounding terrain. The general definition used is one followed by the United States Geological Survey and the Geological Survey of Canada to describe the respective countries' physiographic regions. The U.S. uses

5960-587: The Atlantic Coastal Plain to the south. Water including rainfall and snowfall, lakes, streams and rivers on the eastern/southern side of the divide drains to the Atlantic Ocean; water on the western/northern side of the divide drains to the Gulf of Mexico. The ECD is one of six continental hydrological divides of North America which define several drainage basins, each of which drains to a particular body of water. At its northern terminus,

6109-846: The Canaan Valley in the Cheat River watershed, and the Mount Storm Lake basin in the Potomac River watershed. The Divide then rejoins the Allegheny Front. A significant portion of the Divide forms part of the border between West Virginia and Virginia along Allegheny Mountain and then Peters Mountain , separating the Greenbrier River and James River watersheds. It then makes a dramatic arc to

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6258-596: The Coal Region of northeastern Pennsylvania . The bituminous coal fields of western Pennsylvania , western Maryland , southeastern Ohio, eastern Kentucky, southwestern Virginia , and West Virginia contain the sedimentary form of coal. The mountain top removal method of coal mining , in which entire mountain tops are removed, is currently threatening vast areas and ecosystems of the Appalachian Mountain region. The surface coal mining that started in

6407-636: The Federal Communications Commission , the NRQZ severely restricts all omnidirectional and high-power radio transmissions, although cell phone service is allowed throughout much of the area. Much of the Monongahela (West Virginia), George Washington (West Virginia, Virginia) and Jefferson (Virginia) National Forests lie within the Allegheny Mountains. (No part of the wooded Alleghenies in Maryland or Pennsylvania, however,

6556-758: The Gulf of Mexico . In the central section, north of the New River, the rivers, rising in or just beyond the Valley Ridges, flow through great gorges to the Great Valley, and then across the Blue Ridge to tidal estuaries penetrating the coastal plain via the Roanoke River, James River , Potomac River , and Susquehanna River . In the northern section the height of land lies on the inland side of

6705-734: The Iapetus Ocean , from the North America/Europe collision (See Caledonian orogeny ). By the end of the Mesozoic Era , the Appalachian Mountains had been eroded to an almost flat plain. It was not until the region was uplifted during the Cenozoic Era that the distinctive topography of the present formed. Uplift rejuvenated the streams, which rapidly responded by cutting downward into the ancient bedrock. Some streams flowed along weak layers that define

6854-638: The Interstate Highway System was extended into the northern portion of the Alleghenies, and the region is now served by a network of federal expressways— Interstates 80 , 70 / 76 and 68 . Interstate 64 traverses the southern extremity of the range, but the Central Alleghenies (the "High Alleghenies" of eastern West Virginia) have posed special problems for highway planners owing to the region's very rugged terrain and environmental sensitivities (see Corridor H ). This region

7003-620: The Iroquois , Shawnee , Delaware , Catawba and others, for purposes of trade , hunting and, especially, warfare . Western Virginia " Cherokee " were reported at Cherokee Falls , today's Valley Falls of the Tygart Valley . Indian trader Charles Poke's trading post dates from 1731 with the Calicuas of Cherokee Falls still in the region from the previous century. The "London Scribes" (The Crown's taxation records) vaguely mentions

7152-491: The North American craton . Volcanoes grew along the continental margin coincident with the initiation of subduction . Thrust faulting uplifted and warped older sedimentary rock laid down on the passive margin. As the mountains rose, erosion began to wear them down over time. Streams carried rock debris downslope to be deposited in nearby lowlands. The Taconic orogeny ended after about 60 million years, but built much of

7301-851: The Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad , the Allegheny Portage Railroad and the Pennsylvania Canal system. Lying astride the border separating the Union and Confederacy , the Alleghenies were among the areas most directly affected by the American Civil War (1861–1865). One of the earliest campaigns of the War was fought for control of the Staunton and Parkersburg Turnpike and for the access it provided to

7450-411: The Riviere de la Ronceverte . The " Kanawha Madonna " may date from this period or earlier. Where the New River breaks through Peters' Mountain, near Pearisburg Virginia the 1671 journal mentions the "Moketans had formerly lived". According to a number of early 17th century maps, the Messawomeake or "Mincquas" (Dutch) occupied the northern Allegheny Mountains. The "Shatteras" (an ancient Tutelo) occupied

7599-433: The Rocky Mountains of the west. Some of the outcrops in the Appalachians contain rocks formed during the Precambrian era. The geologic processes that led to the formation of the Appalachian Mountains started 1.1 billion years ago. The first mountain range in the region was created when the continents of Laurentia and Amazonia collided, creating a supercontinent called Rodinia . The collision of these continents caused

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7748-406: The Tennessee River from those of the Santee River . Its high point is on Grandfather Mountain at 5,946 feet (1,812 m); although Mount Mitchell is the highest point in the Appalachian Mountains, it is not on the Divide, but 4 miles west of it. In Georgia , the Divide generally separates the Apalachicola River watershed in the west from the Savannah River and Altamaha River watersheds to

7897-551: The eastern seaboard of the United States and the Midwest region of the country. The Eastern Continental Divide follows the Appalachian Mountains from Pennsylvania to Georgia. The Appalachians, particularly the Central and Southern regions, is one of the most biodiverse places in North America. The north–south orientation of the long ridges and valleys contributes to the high number of plant and animal species. Species were able to migrate through these from either direction during alternating periods of warming and cooling, settling in

8046-415: The ecosystems within the Alleghenies are remarkably varied. In recent decades, the many stages of ecologic succession throughout the area have made the region one of enduring interest to botanists. The larger megafauna which once inhabited the High Alleghenies— elk , bison , mountain lion —were all exterminated during the 19th century. They survived longer in this area, however, than in other parts of

8195-1493: The mixed-mesophytic or medium-moisture types, which are largely confined to rich, moist montane soils of the southern and central Appalachians, particularly in the Cumberland and Allegheny Mountains, but also thrive in the southern Appalachian coves. Characteristic canopy species are white basswood ( Tilia heterophylla ), yellow buckeye ( Aesculus octandra ), sugar maple ( Acer saccharum ), American beech ( Fagus grandifolia ), tuliptree ( Liriodendron tulipifera ), white ash ( Fraxinus americana ) and yellow birch ( Betula alleganiensis ). Other common trees are red maple ( Acer rubrum ), shagbark and bitternut hickories ( Carya ovata and C. cordiformis ) and black or sweet birch ( Betula lenta ). Small understory trees and shrubs include paw paw ( Asimina tribola ), flowering dogwood ( Cornus florida ), hophornbeam ( Ostrya virginiana ), witch-hazel ( Hamamelis virginiana ) and spicebush ( Lindera benzoin ). There are also hundreds of perennial and annual herbs, among them such herbal and medicinal plants as American ginseng ( Panax quinquefolius ), goldenseal ( Hydrastis canadensis ), bloodroot ( Sanguinaria canadensis ) and black cohosh ( Cimicifuga racemosa ). The foregoing trees, shrubs, and herbs are also more widely distributed in less rich mesic forests that generally occupy coves, stream valleys and flood plains throughout

8344-437: The "Salt Village" below the Kanawha Falls , but, that simply the "Mehetan" were associated with these. He explained, below the "Salt Villages", a mass of hostile Indians had, implied, arrived and some believe these to be "Shanwans" of Vielles Expedition of 1692~94, ancient Shawnee. In 1669, John Lederer of Maryland for the Virginia Colony and the Tennessee Cherokee had visited the mouth of the Kanawha and reported no hostilities on

8493-465: The 1940s has significantly impacted the central Appalachian Mountains in Kentucky , Tennessee , Virginia and West Virginia. Early mining methods were unregulated and mined land reclamation research, including acid base reaction , was led by the West Virginia University in the 1960s and 1970s. West Virginia developed rigorous mine reclamation standards for state coal mines in the late 1960s. Regulations were introduced by most federal states to protect

8642-444: The 1950s to 1992, the United States government maintained a top secret continuity program known as Project Greek Island at The Greenbrier hotel in the Alleghenies of southern West Virginia. In August 1963, at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom , Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. referenced the Alleghenies—among several in an evocative list of mountains—in his famous " I Have a Dream " speech, when he said "Let freedom ring from

8791-438: The 96-square-mile (248.6 km ) archipelago of Saint Pierre and Miquelon , an overseas collectivity of France , meaning it is technically in three countries. The highest peak of the mountain range is Mount Mitchell in North Carolina at 6,684 feet (2,037 m), which is also the highest point in the United States east of the Mississippi River . The range is older than the other major mountain range in North America,

8940-415: The A.D. 1300 Luray phase ( Algonquian ) peoples' "invasion". It is thought that these ancient Alleghenians were pushed from the classic Huffman Phase of the eastern slopes of the Alleghenies to the Blue Ridge Mountains in western Virginia , which was eastern Siouan territory. In 1669, John Lederer and members of his party became the first Europeans to crest the Blue Ridge Mountains and the first to see

9089-456: The Alleghenies are Altoona , State College , and Johnstown, Pennsylvania ; and Cumberland, Maryland . Using the USGS classification of physical geography ( physiography ), the Allegheny Mountain range is part of the Appalachian Plateau province of the Appalachian Highlands physiographic division. The name is derived from the Allegheny River , which drains only a small portion of the Alleghenies in west-central Pennsylvania. The meaning of

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9238-505: The Alleghenies for the first time. In the following decades, pioneer settlers arrived in the Alleghenies, especially during Colonial Virginia's Robert Dinwiddie era (1751–58). These included squatters by the Quit-rent Law. Some had preceded the official surveyors using a "hack on the tree and field of corn" marking land ownership approved by the Virginia Colonial Governor who had to be replaced with Governor John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore . Trans-Allegheny travel had been facilitated when

9387-432: The Alleghenies were formed during the Appalachian orogeny . Because of intense freeze-thaw cycles in the higher Alleghenies, there is little native bedrock exposed in most areas. The ground surface usually rests on a massive jumble of sandstone rocks, with air space between them, that are gradually moving down-slope. The crest of the Allegheny Front is an exception, where high bluffs are often exposed. Mineral springs in

9536-465: The Alleghenies. The first permanent European settlers west of the Alleghenies have traditionally been considered to have been two New Englanders: Jacob Marlin and Stephen Sewell, who arrived in the Greenbrier Valley in 1749. They built a cabin together at what would become Marlinton, West Virginia , but after disputing over religion, Sewell moved into a nearby hollowed-out sycamore tree. In 1751, surveyor John Lewis (father of Andrew Lewis ) discovered

9685-419: The Appalachian Basin. Some plateaus of the Appalachian Mountains contain metallic minerals such as iron and zinc . There are many geological issues concerning the rivers and streams of the Appalachians. In spite of the existence of the Great Appalachian Valley, many of the main rivers are transverse to the mountain system axis. The drainage divide of the Appalachians follows a tortuous course that crosses

9834-489: The Appalachian Mountains by the late 1960s. Social and political activism brought about the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 . The 1859 discovery of commercial quantities of petroleum in the Appalachian Mountains of western Pennsylvania started the modern United States petroleum industry . Recent discoveries of commercial natural gas deposits in the Marcellus Shale formation and Utica Shale formations have once again focused oil industry attention on

9983-434: The Appalachian range in New Brunswick and Quebec . While exploring inland along the northern coast of Florida in 1528, the members of the Narváez expedition , including Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca , found a Native American village near present-day Tallahassee, Florida whose name they transcribed as Apalchen or Apalachen [a.paˈla.tʃɛn] . The name was soon altered by the Spanish to Apalachee and used as

10132-816: The Atlantic seaboard. The highest ridges of the Alleghenies are just west of the Front, which has an east/west elevational change of up to 3,000 feet (910 m). Absolute elevations of the Allegheny Highlands reach nearly 5,000 feet (1,500 m), with the highest elevations in the southern part of the range. The highest point in the Allegheny Mountains is Spruce Knob (4,863 ft; 1,482 m), on Spruce Mountain in West Virginia . Other notable Allegheny highpoints include Thorny Flat on Cheat Mountain (4,848 ft; 1,478 m), Bald Knob on Back Allegheny Mountain (4,842 ft; 1,476 m), and Mount Porte Crayon (4,770 ft; 1,450 m), all in West Virginia; Dans Mountain (2,898 ft; 883 m) in Maryland, Backbone Mountain (3,360 ft; 1,020 m),

10281-409: The B&O Railroad. The Battle of Rich Mountain (July 11, 1861) gave the Federals control of the turnpike, of Tygart's Valley, and of all of the territory of western Virginia to the north and west, including the railroad. (Union General George McClellan 's victory in this theater would ultimately bring him promotion to commander the Army of the Potomac .) The Federals fortified at Cheat Summit , and

10430-515: The B&O traversed the Alleghenies, changing the economy and society of the Mountains forever. The B&O had reached Martinsburg, (West) Virginia by May 1842, Hancock, (West) Virginia , by June, Cumberland, Maryland, on November 5, 1842, Piedmont, (West) Virginia on July 21, 1851, and Fairmont, (West) Virginia on June 22, 1852. (It finally reached its Ohio River terminus at Wheeling, (West) Virginia on January 1, 1853.) The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal — also begun in 1828, but at Georgetown —

10579-419: The Blue Ridge again reaches 2,000 ft (600 m) and higher. In the Virginia Blue Ridge, the following are some of the highest peaks north of the Roanoke River : Stony Man 4,031 ft (1,229 m), Hawksbill Mountain 4,066 ft (1,239 m), Apple Orchard Mountain 4,225 ft (1,288 m) and Peaks of Otter 4,001 and 3,875 ft (1,220 and 1,181 m). South of the Roanoke River, along

10728-738: The Blue Ridge, are Virginia's highest peaks including Whitetop Mountain 5,520 ft (1,680 m) and Mount Rogers 5,729 ft (1,746 m), the highest point in the Commonwealth. Chief summits in the southern section of the Blue Ridge are located along two main crests, the Western or Unaka Front along the Tennessee - North Carolina border and the Eastern Front in North Carolina, or one of several "cross ridges" between

10877-468: The Confederates established strongholds at Camp Bartow and Camp Allegheny . Here they faced each other warily through the fall of 1861 and the following winter. General Robert E. Lee 's attempt to attack Cheat Summit Fort (September 12–15, 1861) and Federal attempts to attack Bartow and Allegheny, all failed to change the strategic stalemate. Finally, the harsh, high elevation winter achieved what

11026-607: The Divide begins to separate the Youghiogheny River and Potomac River watersheds. In Maryland , the Divide runs significantly west of the Allegheny Front , following Backbone Mountain , and passing near the source of the North Branch Potomac River at the Fairfax Stone . The Divide then passes through a plateau of the Allegheny Mountains of West Virginia , passing between the north end of

11175-696: The Divide generally follows the western edge of the St. Johns River , meandering into the low country of Northern Florida until it reaches central Florida. The southern terminus of the Eastern Continental Divide is at the northern edge of the Kissimmee River watershed, part of the Lake Okeechobee drainage basin. . The elevation here is about 70 ft (21 m). South of here, the terrain consists of low swampland covered by

11324-676: The Eastern Continental Divide originates at the Eastern Triple Divide , its intersection with the St. Lawrence Divide on a summit named Triple Divide Peak in Potter County , Pennsylvania , about 10 mi (16 km) south of the New York-Pennsylvania border. This point divides the eastern United States into three watersheds, those of the St. Lawrence River to the north, the Atlantic seaboard to

11473-931: The Great Balsams. The Western Blue Ridge Front is subdivided into the Unaka Range , the Bald Mountains , the Great Smoky Mountains , and the Unicoi Mountains , and its major peaks include Roan Mountain 6,285 ft (1,916 m) in the Unakas, Big Bald 5,516 ft (1,681 m) and Max Patch 4,616 ft (1,407 m) in the Bald Mountains, Kuwohi 6,643 ft (2,025 m), Mount Le Conte 6,593 feet (2,010 m), and Mount Guyot 6,621 ft (2,018 m) in

11622-749: The Great Smokies, and Big Frog Mountain 4,224 ft (1,287 m) near the Tennessee- Georgia -North Carolina border. Prominent summits in the cross ridges include Waterrock Knob (6,292 ft (1,918 m)) in the Plott Balsams . Across northern Georgia, numerous peaks exceed 4,000 ft (1,200 m), including Brasstown Bald , the state's highest, at 4,784-and-4,696 ft (1,458-and-1,431 m) Rabun Bald . In north-central Alabama , Mount Cheaha rises prominently to 1,445 feet (440 m) over its surroundings, as part of

11771-811: The High Alleghenies attracted Native Americans and 18th century white settlers and provided a modest incentive to the local economy. The spas developing around these geological features include celebrated resorts that continue to cater to an exclusive clientele, such as The Greenbrier ( White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia ; hotel built 1858) and The Homestead ( Hot Springs, Virginia ; original lodge built 1766). The High Alleghenies are noted for their forests of red spruce , balsam fir , and mountain ash , trees typically found much farther north. Hardwood forests also include yellow birch , sugar and red maple , eastern hemlock , and black cherry . American beech , pine and hickory can also be found. The forests of

11920-814: The Mississippi River. Following Cedar Creek through the Natural Bridge , they floated in buffalo-skin boats down the New , Coal , Kanawha , and Ohio Rivers to the Mississippi. Although captured by the French before he reached Natchez , Howard was eventually released and (in 1745) was interviewed by Fairfax. Howard's description of the South Branch Potomac River resulted in the definite decision by Fairfax to secure his lands in

12069-499: The Monongahela were of Algonquin origin.... Other scholars have suggested that Iroquoian speakers were interacting with Late Monongahela people, and additional evidence is presented to confirm this. I conclude that the archaeologically conceived term, Monongahela, likely encompasses speakers of several languages, including Siouan." According to Dr Maslowski of West Virginia in 2009: "The New River Drainage and upper Potomac represents

12218-550: The Montaine sites in the Tygart Valley . Small groups of Montaine people appear to have lingered much beyond their classically defined period in parts of the most mountainous valleys. The watershed of the Monongahela River is within the northwestern Alleghenies, and it is from it that the Monongahela culture takes its name. The Godwin-Portman site (36AL39) located in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania , had

12367-606: The Ouasioto Mountains and the earliest term Canaraguy (Kanawhans otherwise Canawest) on the 1671 French map occupied the southerly Alleghenies. They were associated with the Allegheny "Cherokee" and Eastern Siouan as trade-movers and canoe transporters. The Calicuas, an ancient most northern Cherokee, migrated or was pushed from the Central Ohio Valley onto the north eastern slopes of the Alleghenies of

12516-649: The Railroad had already arrived eight years before. Debt-ridden, the Canal company dropped its plan to continue construction of the next 180 miles (290 km) of the Canal into the Ohio Valley. The company had long realized—especially with the difficult experience of digging the Paw Paw Tunnel —that the original plan of construction over the mountains and all the way down the Youghiogheny River to Pittsburgh

12665-559: The Shenandoah Valley and the Allegheny Mountains beyond. The proto-historic Alleghenies can be exampled by the earliest journals of the colonists. According to Batts and Fallows' September, 1671 Expedition, they found Mehetan Indians of Mountain "Cherokee-Iroquois" mix on the New River tributaries. This journal does not identify the "Salt Village", but, that the "Mehetan" were associated with these and today thought to be " Monetons ", Siouans. However, this journal does not identify

12814-547: The U.S./Canadian border, the St. Lawrence Valley area is handled differently in the physiographic classification schemas. The part of the St. Lawrence Valley in the United States is one of the second-level classifications, part of the Appalachian Highlands. In Canada, the area is part of the first-level classification, the St. Lawrence Lowlands . This includes the area around the city of Montreal, Anticosti Island , and

12963-752: The United States lists the Allegheny Mountains as a section within the larger Appalachian Plateau province. It may be generally defined to the south by the Allegheny Front , and to the east by the Susquehanna River valley. To the west, the Alleghenies grade down into the dissected Allegheny Plateau. The westernmost ridges are considered to be the Laurel Highlands and Chestnut Ridge in Pennsylvania , and Laurel Mountain and Rich Mountain in West Virginia . Big Stone Ridge marks

13112-537: The ancient Messawomeake, Iroquois tradesmen to 1630s Kent Island, by 1710 maps. Sometime before 1712, the Canawest ("Kanawhans"-"Canallaway"-"Canaragay") had moved to the upper Potomac and made a Treaty with the newly established trading post of Fort Conolloway which would become a part of western Maryland during the 1740s. Prior to European exploration and settlement, trails through the Alleghenies had been transited for many generations by American Indian tribes such as

13261-538: The colonial Alleghenian location of only a few other early colonial trading locations. A general knowledge of these few outposts are more of traditional telling of some local people. However, an example is the "Van Metre" trading house mentioned in an earlier edition of the "Wonderful West Virginia Magazine" being on the South Branches of the upper reaches of the Potomac. Another very early trading house appears on

13410-641: The colonial era. The range is the home of a very popular recreational feature, the Appalachian Trail . This is a 2,175-mile (3,500 km) hiking trail that runs all the way from Mount Katahdin in Maine to Springer Mountain in Georgia , passing over or past a large part of the Appalachian range. The International Appalachian Trail is an extension of this hiking trail into the Canadian portion of

13559-457: The continent that are now exposed. The first mountain-building tectonic plate collision that initiated the construction of what are today the Appalachians occurred at least a billion years ago when the pre-North American craton called Laurentia collided with at least one other craton - Amazonia . All the other cratons of the earth also collided at about this time to form the supercontinent Rodinia and were surrounded by one single ocean. (It

13708-669: The continents that were ancestral to North America and Africa collided during the formation of the supercontinent Pangea . Because North America and Africa were once geographically connected, the Appalachians formed part of the same mountain chain as the Little Atlas in Morocco . This mountain range, known as the Central Pangean Mountains , extended into Scotland , before the Mesozoic Era opening of

13857-412: The deciduous needle-leaf conifer, the tamarack , or eastern larch ( Larix laricina ). The dominant northern and high elevation conifer is the red spruce ( Picea rubens ), which grows from near sea level to above 4,000 ft (1,200 m) above sea level (asl) in northern New England and southeastern Canada. It also grows southward along the Appalachian crest to the highest elevations of

14006-617: The divide is often much snowier than surrounding areas, due to orographic enhancement and cooler temperatures with elevation. Prior to about 1760, north of Spanish Florida, the Appalachian Divide represented the boundary between British and French colonial possessions in North America. The Royal Proclamation of 1763 separated settled lands of the Thirteen Colonies from lands north and west of it designated

14155-529: The driest sites are dominated by chestnut oak, or sometimes by scarlet or northern red oaks. In the northern Appalachians the oaks, except for white and northern red, drop out, while the latter extends farthest north. The oak forests generally lack the diverse small tree, shrub and herb layers of mesic forests. Shrubs are generally ericaceous , and include the evergreen mountain laurel ( Kalmia latifolia ), various species of blueberries ( Vaccinium spp.), black huckleberry ( Gaylussacia baccata ),

14304-734: The east around the Sinking Creek valley, and then follows the hill crest east of Blacksburg, Virginia , until it meets the Blue Ridge Mountains , which take the form of an escarpment separating the headwaters of the New River from that of the Roanoke River . Just before the Divide passes into North Carolina , it begins to separate the New River and Yadkin River watersheds. It then separates upper tributaries of

14453-470: The east, and the Gulf of Mexico to the west. From north to south, the divide passes through the broader Allegheny Plateau region, following the boundary between the Allegheny River and Susquehanna River watersheds through most of Pennsylvania. At Blue Knob near Altoona , the Divide begins to follow Allegheny Mountain and then Little Savage Mountain . A few miles before the state border,

14602-574: The east, passing through the Atlanta metropolitan area and extending past the southern end of the Appalachian Mountains southeasterly across the Georgia plateau . This marks the first time the western watershed drains directly to the Gulf of Mexico without reaching the Ohio River first. In southern Georgia, it separates the Suwannee River and Satilla River watersheds. In Florida ,

14751-578: The eastern United States. Naturalist John James Audubon reported that by 1851 a few eastern elk ( Cervus canadensis canadiensis ) could still be found in the Alleghany Mountains but that by then they were virtually gone from the remainder of their range. Mammals in the Allegheny region today include whitetail deer , chipmunk , raccoon , skunk , groundhog , opossum , weasel , field mouse , flying squirrel , cottontail rabbit , gray foxes , red foxes , gray squirrels , red squirrels and

14900-584: The entire region are now almost all second- or third-growth forests , the original trees having been removed in the late 19th and (in West Virginia) early 20th centuries. The wild onion known as the ramp ( Allium tricoccum ) is also present in the deeper forests. Certain isolated areas in the High Alleghenies are well known for their open expanses of sphagnum bogs and heath shrubs (e.g., Dolly Sods , Cranberry Glades ). Many plant communities are indeed similar to those of sea-level eastern Canada. But

15049-425: The folds and faults created many millions of years earlier. Other streams downcut so rapidly that they cut right across the resistant folded rocks of the mountain core, carving canyons across rock layers and geologic structures. The Appalachian Mountains contain major deposits of anthracite coal as well as bituminous coal . In the folded mountains the coal is in metamorphosed form as anthracite , represented by

15198-626: The heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!" The Flight 93 National Memorial is located at the site of the crash of United Airlines Flight 93 —which was hijacked in the September 11 attacks —in Stonycreek Township, Pennsylvania , about 2 miles (3.2 km) north of Shanksville . The memorial honors the passengers and crew of Flight 93, who stopped Al-Qaeda terrorists from reaching their intended target. Appalachian Mountains The Appalachian Mountains , often called

15347-521: The highest point in Maryland; Mount Davis (3,213 ft; 979 m), the highest point in Pennsylvania, and the second highest, Blue Knob (3,146 ft; 959 m). There are very few sizable cities in the Alleghenies. The four largest are (in descending order of population): Altoona , State College , Johnstown (all in Pennsylvania) and Cumberland (in Maryland). In the 1970s and '80s,

15496-486: The ill-fated Braddock expedition four years later. In addition to the war, hunting and trading with Indians were primary motivations for white movement across the mountains. Permanent white settlement of the northern Alleghenies was facilitated by the explorations and stories of such noted Marylanders as the Indian fighter and trader Thomas Cresap (1702–90) and the backwoodsman and hunter Meshach Browning (1781–1859). In

15645-511: The irony that geh is also Iroquoian for "of the." So, most likely, Alligehni, or Oligini, would probably be the Lenape name for the original homeland of the Erie people. The word "Allegheny" was once commonly used to refer to the whole of what are now called the Appalachian Mountains . John Norton used it (spelled variously) around 1810 to refer to the mountains in Tennessee and Georgia . Around

15794-485: The land mass that is now New England and southwestward to Pennsylvania. The Taconic Orogeny was the second of four mountain building plate collisions that contributed to the formation of the Appalachians, culminating in the collision of North America and Africa (see Alleghanian orogeny ). The third mountain-building event was the Acadian orogeny which occurred between 375 and 359 million years ago. The Acadian orogeny

15943-647: The late 18th century, a massive migration to the Monongahela River basin took place over three main routes: along the old Braddock Road via Winchester, Virginia ; through the Shenandoah Valley to the head of the Cheat River and from there to the Monongahela; and along the Lincoln Highway to Ligonier, Pennsylvania , and thence along Jacob's Creek to the Monongahela. These immigrants were predominantly Scotch-Irish , German , and, to

16092-469: The latter. However, balsam fir also does well in soils with a pH as high as 6. Eastern or Canada hemlock ( Tsuga canadensis ) is another important evergreen needle-leaf conifer that grows along the Appalachian chain from north to south but is confined to lower elevations than red spruce and the firs. It generally occupies richer and less acidic soils than the spruce and firs and is characteristic of deep, shaded and moist mountain valleys and coves . It

16241-537: The lower streams of the Alleghenies. The Mohetan representative through a Siouan translator explained to Mr Batts and Mr Fallon, Colonel Abraham Woods explorers 1671–2, that he (Moheton Native American ) could not say much about the people below the "Salt Village" because they (Mountain Cherokee) were not associated with them. The Mohetan was armed by this time of 1671 for the Mohetan Representative

16390-540: The microclimates that best suited them. The flora of the Appalachians are diverse and vary primarily in response to geology, latitude, elevation and moisture availability. Geobotanically, they constitute a floristic province of the North American Atlantic Region . The Appalachians consist primarily of deciduous broad-leaf trees and evergreen needle-leaf conifers, but also contain the evergreen broad-leaf American holly ( Ilex opaca ), and

16539-664: The more notable peaks in West Virginia. The Blue Ridge Mountains , rising in southern Pennsylvania and there known as South Mountain , attain elevations of about 2,000 ft (600 m) in Pennsylvania. South Mountain achieves its highest point just below the Mason-Dixon line in Maryland at Quirauk Mountain 2,145 ft (654 m) and then diminishes in height southward to the Potomac River . Once in Virginia ,

16688-605: The mountainous belt just north of the New River in Virginia. South of the New River, rivers head into the Blue Ridge, cross the higher Unakas, receive important tributaries from the Great Valley, and traversing the Cumberland Plateau in spreading gorges ( water gaps ), escape by way of the Cumberland River and the Tennessee River rivers to the Ohio River and the Mississippi River, and thence to

16837-550: The mountainous belt, and thus the main lines of drainage run from north to south, exemplified by the Hudson River . However, the valley through which the Hudson River flows was cut by the gigantic glaciers of the ice ages —the same glaciers that deposited their terminal moraines in southern New York and formed the east–west Long Island . The Appalachian region is generally considered the geographical divide between

16986-573: The mountains during the warmer seasons. Occasionally, osprey and eagles can be found nesting along the streams. The hawks and owls are the most common birds of prey . The water habitats of the Alleghenies hold 24 families of fish. Amphibian species number about 21, among them hellbenders , lungless salamanders , and various toads and frogs . The Alleghenies provide habitat for about 54 species of common invertebrate . These include Gastropoda , slugs , leech , earthworms and grub worm . Cave crayfish ( Cambarus nerterius ) live alongside

17135-531: The northwest coastline of Newfoundland. The dissected plateau area, while not actually made up of geological mountains, is popularly called "mountains", especially in eastern Kentucky and West Virginia, and while the ridges are not high, the terrain is extremely rugged. In Ohio and New York, some of the plateau has been glaciated , which has rounded off the sharp ridges and filled the valleys to some extent. The glaciated regions are usually referred to as hill country rather than mountains. The Appalachian belt includes

17284-424: The oceans, but there were no plants or animals on land. Then, during the middle Ordovician Period about 500 to 470 million years ago, the motion of the crustal plates changed, and the continents began to move back toward each other. The once-quiet Appalachian passive margin changed to a very active plate boundary when a neighboring Iapetus oceanic plate containing a volcanic arc collided with and began sinking beneath

17433-421: The pair. Sewell eventually settled on the eastern side of Sewell Mountain, near present-day Rainelle, West Virginia . They may well have been the first to settle what was then called the "western waters"— i.e. , in the regions where streams flowed westward to the Gulf of Mexico rather than eastward to the Atlantic. Among the first whites to penetrate into the Allegheny Mountains were surveyors attempting to settle

17582-681: The plateaus sloping southward to the Atlantic Ocean in New England , and southeastward to the border of the coastal plain through the central and southern Atlantic states; and on the northwest, the Allegheny and Cumberland plateaus declining toward the Great Lakes and the interior plains. A remarkable feature of the belt is the longitudinal chain of broad valleys, including the Great Appalachian Valley , which in

17731-436: The range of the Huffman Phase (Page) hunting and gathering area or when it is found in small amounts on village sites, trade ware or Page women being assimilated into another village (tribe)." Finally, according to Prof Potter of Virginia, they [the people represented by the Huffman Phase of Page pottery] had occupied the eastern slopes of the Alleghenies on the upper Potomac to the northern, lower Shenandoah Valley region before

17880-478: The region level. The lowest level of classification is "section". The Appalachian Uplands are one of the seven physiographic divisions in Canada . Canada's GSC does not use the same classification system as the USGS below the division level. The agency does break the divisions of the Appalachian Uplands into 13 subsections that are in four different political provinces of Canada. While the Appalachian Highlands and Appalachian Uplands are generally continuous across

18029-405: The region, but most of the revenues flowed out of the mountains to the cities of the eastern seaboard where the captains of industry were headquartered. This inequity created a bitter legacy that would last for generations and form the foundation of the mountaineers' poverty and the area's immense environmental degradation . The most momentous disaster to afflict the people of the Alleghenies

18178-483: The region. An expedition under Peter Jefferson and Thomas Lewis in the following year emplaced the " Fairfax Stone " at the source of the North Branch and established a line of demarcation (the " Fairfax Line ") extending from the stone south-east to the headwaters of the Rappahannock River . Lewis' journal of that expedition provides a valuable view of the Allegheny country before its settlement. Jefferson and Joshua Fry 's "Fry-Jefferson Map" of 1751 accurately depicted

18327-407: The reservoir known as Lake Conemaugh . (This body of water had been built as part of the Main Line of Public Works , then abandoned.) With a flow rate that temporarily equalled that of the Mississippi River , the flood killed 2,209 people and caused US$ 17 million of damage (about $ 425 million in 2012 dollars). The American Red Cross , led by Clara Barton and with 50 volunteers, undertook

18476-454: The residents of the regions regarding the correct pronunciation. Elsewhere, a commonly accepted pronunciation for the adjective Appalachian is / ˌ æ p ə ˈ l æ tʃ i ə n / , with the last two syllables "-ian" pronounced as in the word "Romanian". Perhaps partly because the range runs through large portions of both the United States and Canada, and partly because the range was formed over numerous geologic time periods, one of which

18625-428: The result of volcanic activity that occurred around this time. Evidence of subsurface activity, dikes and sills intruding into the overlying rock, is present in the Blue Ridge as well. For instance, mafic rocks have been found along the Fries Fault in the central Blue Ridge area of Montgomery County, VA. The Iapetus continued to expand and during that time bacteria, algae, and many species of invertebrates flourished in

18774-466: The rocks to be folded and faulted, creating the first mountains in the region. Many of the rocks and minerals that were formed during that event can currently be seen at the surface of the present Appalachian range. Around 480 million years ago, geologic processes began that led to three distinct orogenic eras that created much of the surface structure seen in today's Appalachians. During this period, mountains once reached elevations similar to those of

18923-544: The same side of the Great Valley, south of the Potomac, are the Pinnacle 3,007 feet (917 m) and Pidgeon Roost 3,400 ft (1,000 m). In West Virginia, more than 150 peaks rise above 4,000 ft (1,200 m), including Spruce Knob 4,863 ft (1,482 m), the highest point in the Allegheny Mountains . A number of other points in the state rise above 4,800 ft (1,500 m). Cheat Mountain ( Snowshoe Mountain ) at Thorny Flat 4,848 ft (1,478 m) and Bald Knob 4,842 ft (1,476 m) are among

19072-403: The same time, Washington Irving proposed renaming the United States either "Appalachia" or "Alleghania". In 1861, Arnold Henry Guyot published the first systematic geologic study of the whole mountain range. His map labeled the range as the "Alleghanies", but his book was titled On the Appalachian Mountain System . As late as 1867, John Muir —in his book A Thousand Mile Walk to the Gulf —used

19221-409: The same trend as the system itself. None of the summits reaches the region of perpetual snow. In Pennsylvania , there are over sixty summits that rise over 2,500 ft (800 m); the summits of Mount Davis and Blue Knob rise over 3,000 ft (900 m). In Maryland, Eagle Rock and Dans Mountain are conspicuous points reaching 3,162 and 2,882 ft (964 and 878 m) respectively. On

19370-428: The southerly sections divides the mountain system into two unequal portions, but in the northernmost lies west of all the ranges possessing typical Appalachian features, and separates them from the Adirondack group. The mountain system has no axis of dominating altitudes, but in every portion, the summits rise to rather uniform heights, and, especially in the central section, the various ridges and intermontane valleys have

19519-416: The southern Appalachians, as in North Carolina and Tennessee . In the central Appalachians it is usually confined above 3,000 ft (900 m) asl, except for a few cold valleys in which it reaches lower elevations. In the southern Appalachians, it is restricted to higher elevations. Another species is the black spruce ( Picea mariana ), which extends farthest north of any conifer in North America,

19668-413: The southern and central Appalachians consist largely of black , northern red , white , chestnut and scarlet oaks ( Quercus velutina, Q. rubra, Q. alba, Q. prinus and Q. coccinea ) and hickories, such as the pignut ( Carya glabra ) in particular. The richest forests, which grade into mesic types, usually in coves and on gentle slopes, have predominantly white and northern red oaks, while

19817-511: The southern and central Appalachians at low and intermediate elevations. In the northern Appalachians and at higher elevations of the central and southern Appalachians these diverse mesic forests give way to less diverse northern hardwood forests with canopies dominated only by American beech, sugar maple, American basswood ( Tilia americana ) and yellow birch and with far fewer species of shrubs and herbs. Drier and rockier uplands and ridges are occupied by oak–chestnut forests dominated by

19966-444: The southern extent of the Alleghenies and is an outlier of Flat Top Mountain , with the Tug Fork river running along its western flank. The land to the south and to the west of the Alleghenies is the Valley and Ridge physiographic province. The eastern edge of the Alleghenies is marked by the Allegheny Front , which is also sometimes considered the eastern terminus of the Allegheny Plateau . This great escarpment roughly follows

20115-410: The southern regions of the Appalachians, the word is pronounced / ˌ æ p ə ˈ l æ tʃ ɪ n z / , with the third syllable sounding like "latch". In northern parts of the mountain range, it is pronounced / ˌ æ p ə ˈ l eɪ tʃ ɪ n z / or / ˌ æ p ə ˈ l eɪ ʃ ɪ n z / ; the third syllable is like "lay", and the fourth "chins" or "shins". There is often great debate between

20264-472: The southernmost spur of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Sources written prior to the recognition of the concept of physiographic regions divided the Appalachian Mountains into three major sections: Plate tectonics over the period dating back at least 1 billion years led to geological creation of the land that is now the Appalachian Mountain range. The continental movement led to collisions that built mountains and they later pulled apart creating oceans over parts of

20413-415: The term Appalachian Highlands and Canada uses the term Appalachian Uplands ; the Appalachian Mountains are not synonymous with the Appalachian Plateau , which is one of the provinces of the Appalachian Highlands. The Appalachian range runs from the Island of Newfoundland in Canada, 2,050 mi (3,300 km) southwestward to Central Alabama in the United States; south of Newfoundland, it crosses

20562-407: The troops had failed to accomplish, and in the spring of 1862 both armies moved on down the pike to the Battle of McDowell (May 8, 1862), and then on to fight what became General Stonewall Jackson 's Shenandoah Valley Campaign (spring 1862). Two years later, much of this contested area (along with much else) became part of the new state of West Virginia . The very rugged terrain of the Alleghenies

20711-434: The two main crests. Major subranges of the Eastern Front include the Black Mountains , Great Craggy Mountains , and Great Balsam Mountains , and its chief summits include Grandfather Mountain 5,964 ft (1,818 m) near the Tennessee-North Carolina border, Mount Mitchell 6,684 ft (2,037 m) in the Blacks, and Black Balsam Knob 6,214 ft (1,894 m) and Cold Mountain 6,030 ft (1,840 m) in

20860-519: The western valleys of the central Allegheny range. The Montaine sites extend from the tributaries of the upper Potomac River region south to the New River tributaries. These also were influenced by the earlier Armstrong culture of the more southwestern portions northern sub-range of the Ouasioto (Cumberland) Mountains and by the more easterly Virginia Woodland people. The Late Woodland Montaine were less influenced by Hopewellian trade from Ohio, although similarly polished stone tools have been found among

21009-499: The word "Alleghanies" in referring to the southern Appalachians. There was no general agreement about the "Appalachians" versus the "Alleghanies" until the late 19th century. From northeast to southwest, the Allegheny Mountains run about 300 miles (480 km). From west to east, at their widest, they are about 100 miles (160 km). When combining the Allegheny Province with the Kanawa Province, they run 400 miles (640 km). The USGS physiographic classification of all land in

21158-517: The word, which comes from the Lenape (Delaware) Native Americans, is not definitively known but is usually translated as "fine river". The closest approximation which makes sense is some context from the Jesuit Relations showing that Alligeh was one of several accepted renderings of the name of the Erie people among the early 17th century missionaries among the Native peoples throughout the eastern Great Lakes region, along with Rique, Yenresh and Erichronon. The suffix -ni means "of the," in Lenape, despite

21307-516: Was "wildly unrealistic". Public works financed at the state level were not lacking during this period. The Main Line of Public Works was a transportation network project built between 1826 and 1834 by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania . It created a railroad and canal system across southern Pennsylvania between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh , intended to transport freight (notably including anthracite coal ) and people with greater reliability, speed and capacity. The Main Line of Public Works included

21456-401: Was also a public work of enormous economic and social significance for the Alleghenies. It approached Hancock, Maryland , by 1839. From the beginning, the B&O Railroad and the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal operated in bitter legal and commercial competition with one another as they vied for rights to the narrow strips of land along the Potomac. When the Canal finally reached Cumberland in 1850,

21605-467: Was caused by a series of collisions of pieces of crust from the Avalonia Terrane, sections broken off from continent of Gondwana , with the North American Plate. The collision initiating this orogeny resulted in the closing of the southern Iapetus Ocean and the formation of a high mountain belt. After the Acadian collision took place, Gondwana began to retreat from Laurentia with the newly accreted Avalonian terranes left behind. As Gondwana moved away,

21754-413: Was constructed to provide a direct route for the settlements of the Shenandoah Valley to the Ohio River by way of the Tygart Valley and Little Kanawha Rivers. Planned and approved in 1826 and completed in 1848, the Staunton and Parkersburg was maintained by fees (tolls) collected at toll houses placed at regular intervals. Construction on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad began at Baltimore in 1828;

21903-447: Was given several pouches of ammunition for his and the other's weapons as a token of friendship. Somebody had already been trading within the central Alleghenies before the Virginians historical record begins in the Allegheny Mountains. Some earlier scholars found evidence these Proto-historics were either Cistercians of Spanish Ajacan Occuquan outpost on the Potomac River or Jesuits and their Kahnawake Praying Indians ( Mohawk ) on

22052-416: Was not at all amenable to a large-scale maneuver war and so the actions that the area witnessed for the remainder of the conflict were generally guerrilla in nature. With the further spread of the railroad networks in the 1890s and early 1900s, many new towns developed and thrived in the Alleghenies. The lumbering and coal industries that boomed in the wake of the railroads brought a measure of prosperity to

22201-407: Was the Johnstown Flood —locally known as the "Great Flood of 1889"—which occurred on May 31 of that year after the catastrophic failure of the South Fork Dam on the Little Conemaugh River 14 miles (23 km) upstream of the town of Johnstown, Pennsylvania . The dam broke after several days of extremely heavy rainfall, unleashing 20 million tons of water (18 million cubic meters) from

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