Horseshoe Curve (Pennsylvania)

Kittanning Gap, one of the gaps of the Allegheny, is a now a relatively unimportant wooded ravine (water gap) along the ascent (at the foot) of the Allegheny Ridge (also called the 'Allegheny Front' or 'Allegheny escarpment') in central Pennsylvania in the United States. The gap was one of several optional paths of the Kittanning Path Amerindian trail turned into an emigrant route over the Alleghenies in the day of animal powered technology. The option up the gap was likely the 'better choice' of an ascending route for ox cart and wagon (such as those made downstream in Conestoga, Pennsylvania) encumbered white settlers pouring west across the Alleghenies escarpment. The 1780s–1830s saw an increasing flood of emigrants into the Ohio Country and territories beyond after (and well before) the end of the American Revolution. It is located in Logan Township, Blair County, Pennsylvania just west of Altoona, PA, overlooking the former Pennsylvania Railroad trackage beginning to climb up alongside Glen White Run to the hard hairpin turn that begins at the confluence with the Kittanning Run before its famous traverse bends around in the famous Horseshoe Curve approximately 5 mi (8 km) west of Altoona. The USGS does not use the Kittanning Run stream for an eponymous gap name since it follows local naming conventions and traditions. The Kittanning Gap is formed from the erosion valley of a seasonal freshet, so is lightly eroded compared to other gaps of the Allegheny which have larger flow volumes resulting in narrower, deeper valleys with steeper, harder to traverse walls. However, topographical analysis shows the climb up from the Altoona Plateau up to the Allegheny Plateau through Kittanning Gap would bend first northerly then curve gradually climbing along several diverse hill sides as to path hooked back to resume a westward heading in the valley of Clearfield Creek coming out in the vicinity of Ashville, Pennsylvania but about a half-mile distant and on the opposite side of the summit that sources the Kittanning Run. In short, climbing more quickly and directly up the escarpment via either the valleys of Kittanning Run or Glen White Run was likely the route of choice (when footing was good) for foot traffic and mule trains, whilst the longer more round about but easier climb up the Kittanning Gap gave animal drawn wagon and carts the better easier path. Any one of these variations were collectively parts of the Kittanning Path as it became known.

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 to pass East-to-West through the Allegheny Front escarpment, a barrier ridge separating the flat highlands plateau, the Appalachian Plateau—from the many barrier ridges making up the local Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians in the Central Pennsylvania heartland. The stream was very likely followed by the Kittanning Path 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 which built the Allegheny Portage Railroad for the 1845 railroad line chartered (ordered, in effect) to cross the Allegheny Mountains. 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.

Logan Township is a township in Blair County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is part of the Altoona, PA Metropolitan Statistical Area. It is the most populous township in Blair County, with a population of 12,413 at the 2020 census. Logan Township is home to Horseshoe Curve, a National Historic Landmark.

Eldorado is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Blair County, Pennsylvania, United States. It was first listed as a CDP prior to the 2020 census.The CDP is in western Blair County, along the southern border of Logan Township. It is bordered to the south by Allegheny Township and to the east by the Eldorado neighborhood in the city of Altoona. Eldorado sits on the south side of the valley of Burgoon Run, at the base of the Allegheny Front, which rises to an elevation of 2,421 feet (738 m) just over 2 miles (3 km) to the west. Horseshoe Curve on the Pittsburgh Line of the Norfolk Southern Railway is 2.5 miles (4.0 km) to the northwest, up the valley of Burgoon Run.

Allegheny Township is a township in Blair County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 6,585 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Altoona, Pennsylvania Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Mill Run is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Blair County, Pennsylvania, United States. It was first listed as a CDP prior to the 2020 census.The CDP is in western Blair County, south of the center of Logan Township. It is bordered to the east by the city of Altoona and is often considered a neighborhood of the city. The community is in the valley of Mill Run, a stream which comes off the Allegheny Front 2 miles (3 km) to the west and flows southeast, then south, to join Beaverdam Creek west of Hollidaysburg. Allegheny Reservoir is just west of the CDP, and Mill Run Reservoir is 1 mile (1.6 km) upstream. Mill Run is part of the watershed of the Frankstown Branch Juniata River, leading to the Susquehanna.

Carson Valley is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Blair County, Pennsylvania, United States. It was first listed as a CDP prior to the 2020 census.The CDP is in western Blair County, in the eastern part of Allegheny Township. It is named for the valley in which it sits, drained to the east by Spencer Run coming down from the Allegheny Front. Carson Valley Road leads east to Pennsylvania Route 764 at Cross Keys and west up the valley 2 miles (3 km) to the foot of the Allegheny Front escarpment. U.S. Route 22, a four-lane freeway, runs south and west of Carson Valley, with the closest access to the east from PA 764. Altoona is 6 miles (10 km) north of the CDP, and Hollidaysburg is 4 miles (6 km) to the southeast. Cresson is 12 miles (19 km) to the west via Route 22.

Red Hill is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Blair County, Pennsylvania, United States. It was first listed as a CDP prior to the 2020 census.The CDP is in western Blair County, in the center of Logan Township. It is along Pennsylvania Route 36, which leads southeast 2 miles (3 km) to Altoona and northwest up the Allegheny Front 7 miles (11 km) to Ashville.

Tunnelhill is a borough that is located in Cambria and Blair counties in Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 363 at the 2010 census. Of these, 245 were in Cambria County, and 118 were in Blair County. It is part of the Altoona, PA Metropolitan Statistical Area. Tunnelhill is named after the many railroad tunnels of the Pennsylvania Railroad near here known as the Gallitzin Tunnels.

Canan Station is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Blair County, Pennsylvania, United States. It was first listed as a CDP prior to the 2020 census. The community is also known as Canan.The CDP is in west-central Blair County, in the northeastern part of Allegheny Township. It is 5 miles (8 km) south of the center of Altoona and 3 miles (5 km) north of Duncansville and is on the west side of the valley of Beaverdam Branch, which flows southeastward through Hollidaysburg to the Frankstown Branch of the Juniata River.

Newburg is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Blair County, Pennsylvania, United States. It was first listed as a CDP prior to the 2020 census.The CDP is in western Blair County, in Logan Township along the western border of Altoona. Pennsylvania Route 36 (18th Street) runs through the community, leading southeast into Altoona and northwest up the Allegheny Front, 8 miles (13 km) to Ashville.

The Gallitzin Tunnels in Gallitzin, Pennsylvania, are a set of three adjacent tunnels through the Allegheny Mountains in western Pennsylvania. They were completed in 1854, 1855, and 1902 by the Pennsylvania Railroad as part of the cross-state route that includes the nearby Horseshoe Curve to the east. Their ownership has since passed to Penn Central Transportation Company, then to Conrail, and most recently to the Norfolk Southern Railway. The tunnels are currently used by Norfolk Southern freight trains and Amtrak Pennsylvanian passenger trains.