The Allegheny Mountains

The Allegheny Mountain Range (also spelled Alleghany and Allegany) informally, the Alleghenies is part of the vast Appalachian Mountain Range of the eastern United States and Canada. 

It has a northeast-southwest orientation and runs for about 400 miles from north-central Pennsylvania, through western Maryland and eastern West Virginia, to southwestern Virginia.

What do you know about the Allegheny Mountains? Explore this Quick US Geography Quiz.

1. The name derives from the Allegheny River, which drains only a small portion of the Alleghenies in west-central Pennsylvania. The meaning of the word, which comes from the Lenape (Delaware) Indians, is not definitively known, but is usually translated as "fine river". A Lenape legend tells of an ancient tribe called the "Allegewi" who lived on the river and were defeated by the Lenape.

• True or False?

2. The word "Allegheny" was once commonly used to refer to the whole of what are now called the Appalachian Mountains.

• True or False?

3. From northeast to southwest, the Allegheny Mountains run about 400 miles. From west to east, at their widest, what is the width?

• 100 miles
• 200 miles
• 300 miles

4. The eastern edge of the Alleghenies which is also sometimes considered the eastern terminus of the Allegheny Plateau. What is it known as?

• Allegheny Front
• Allegheny Frontier
• Allegheny Peak

5. The highest point in the Allegheny Mountains is Spruce Mountain in West Virginia. What is the highest peak at 4,863 feet?

• Morgan Peak
• Germany Knob
• Spruce Knob

6. What is the Allegheny's highest point in Pennsylvania at 3,213 feet?

• Blue Knob
• Hall's Peak
• Mount Davis

7. What is the highest point in Maryland at 3360 feet?

• Red Ridge
• Cave Mountain
• Backbone Mountain

8. What is NOT a large city in the Allegheny's?

• Altoona
• State College
• Pittsburgh

9. 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. What period were the rock layers of the Alleghenies formed?

• Alleghenian orogeny
• Sonoma orogeny
• Petermann Orogeny

10. Much of the Monongahela (West Virginia), George Washington (West Virginia, Virginia) and Jefferson (Virginia) National Forests lie within the Allegheny Mountains.

• True or False?

Allegheny Mountains Answers

1. True
2. True
3. 100 miles
4. Allegheny Front
5. Spruce Knob
6. Mount Davis
7. Backbone Mountain
8. Pittsburgh
9. Alleghenian orogeny
10. True

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