Allegheny Portage Railroad

The Allegheny Portage Railroad was a Pennsylvania state-financed portage railway built between 1831 and 1834 to carry river boats and barges over the divide between the Ohio and Susquehanna river systems, connecting Hollidaysburg and Johnstown across 36 miles through the Allegheny Mountains. It was the first railroad built through the Alleghenies and included the first railroad tunnel in the United States, cutting the travel time from Philadelphia to the Ohio River from weeks to three to five days and helping open the American interior to settlement and commerce. It operated from 1834 until it was rendered obsolete by advancing railway technology and largely abandoned after the Pennsylvania Railroad purchased it in 1857; the route is now preserved as a National Historic Site.