Allegheny Portage Railroad

Blair Gap, one of the gaps of the Allegheny, is a water gap along the eastern face atop the Allegheny Front escarpment. Like other gaps of the Allegheny, the slopes of Blair Gap were amenable to foot travel, pack mules, and possibly wagons allowing Amerindians, and then, after about 1778–1780 settlers, to travel west into the relatively depopulated Ohio Country decades before the railroads were born and tied the country together with steel. The gap was used historically for the upper sections of the Allegheny Portage Railroad, which as was authorized by the enabling acts in 1824 of Pennsylvania's Main Line of Public Works as part of the Pennsylvania Canal System which originally envisioned linking Pittsburgh to Philadelphia by canals. In the early 1900s, U.S. Route 22 followed alongside the watercourse through the gap. Until the 1920s, after new founded auto clubs gathered enough numbers to political clout to push for initiatives creating roads between towns, off the railroads the primary means of travel town to town was on foot or where hauling was needed, using wagons. There were only five ways through the Appalachians east to west: Around the bottom (plains or Piedmont area) in Georgia, the Cumberland Gap, the Cumberland Narrows, the gaps of the Allegheny Front, and up the Hudson River then around the north end of the Catskills and across Upstate New York to the Great Lakes. All other transits involve difficult climbs a man on foot can only make with great difficulty, and which animal drawn transport could not. Geographically and geologically, without the large projects and engineering capabilities of the 20th century, there were exactly three internal regions where it was possible to get animal powered vehicles from the east side to the west side of the Appalachian Mountains, making five routes overall counting traveling around the plains at either end of the western chain. Below Canada, the geologic nature of successive barrier ridges of the Ridge and Valley Appalachians runs from the valley of the Hudson, the Delaware Water Gap down through all of northern Pennsylvania, sundering eastern and central Pennsylvania, Maryland, North Carolina, Virginia, Western Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee.

State Correctional Institution – Cresson was a medium-security, all male correctional facility, located off U.S. Route 22, about 10 miles west of Altoona along Old Route 22 in the Western part of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. On January 8, 2013 state officials announced the prison would be closed. The prison closed June 30, 2013 and the land was put up for sale by the state.

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.

Muleshoe Curve is a curve of track on the former Pennsylvania Railroad, located near Duncansville, Pennsylvania. It never reached the same amount of popularity as the nearby Horseshoe Curve, located 4.34 mi (7 km) north of Muleshoe curve, mainly due to it being merely a secondary route. Built in 1850s by the state of Pennsylvania as part of the New Portage Railroad, Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) purchased the line (and the curve) in 1857 and promptly closed it, as the PRR already had its own line in the region. It was brought back into service in the 1890s due to increased rail traffic. Subsequently, the rails were removed and used by the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railroad. In 1904, the line was reopened and double-tracked by the PRR as a bypass. One track was removed in 1955 and the other in 1981. After the railroad was taken over by Conrail, Muleshoe Curve was permanently abandoned in 1981.

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.

Gallitzin is a borough in Cambria County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is bordered by Gallitzin Township and Tunnelhill, all of which sit astride the Eastern continental divide. Tunnel Hill and Gallitzin both are pierced by railroad tunnels shortening the necessary ascent for rails crossing the Allegheny Front onto the Allegheny Plateau which encompasses the towns' terrains. Topping the gaps of the Allegheny, the area is one of only five major breaks in the Appalachians allowing east–west transportation corridors before the advent of 20th century technologies.

Gallitzin Township is a township in Cambria County, Pennsylvania, United States. The township nearly surrounds, but is a separate entity from, Gallitzin borough. As of the 2010 census, the township population was 1,324. It is part of the Johnstown, Pennsylvania Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Cresson Township is a township in Cambria County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 2,820 at the 2020 census. The township surrounds the boroughs of Cresson and Sankertown but is separate from them. It is part of the Johnstown, Pennsylvania Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Cresson is a borough in Cambria County, Pennsylvania, United States. Cresson is 80 miles (130 km) east of Pittsburgh. It is above 2,000 feet (600 m) in elevation. Lumber, coal, and coke yards were industries that had supported the population, which numbered 1,470 in 1910. The borough is part of the Johnstown Metropolitan Statistical Area, although state and local sources list it as part of the Altoona area due to being much closer to that city. The population of Cresson at the 2010 census was 1,711.The location was named in 1854 as a memorial to philanthropist Elliott Cresson. Railroads, beginning with the Allegheny Portage Railroad, fueled the growth of the area. Many famous Pittsburgh businessmen, including Charles M. Schwab, Andrew Carnegie, and Henry Clay Frick, maintained summer residences in the area. The borough was incorporated in 1906, along with neighboring Sankertown.

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.

Juniata Township is a township in Blair County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is part of the Altoona, PA Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 968 at the 2020 census.