A Very Short History of Pittsburgh
For Pittsburgh, geography and geology have been destiny.
August 25, 2008
Geography comes first. Close upon the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers, one gets a sense of westward flowing waters, but a map of Western Pennsylvania shows the Allegheny flowing south and the Monongahela north, almost at right angles to the Ohio.
A fourth river, the Potomac, comes into play by bringing the coast of Virginia close to the Monongahela and allowing for some tough navigation to connect Pittsburgh with the Atlantic Ocean. Lastly—the mountains. The western slope of the Alleghenies lies some 40 miles from the Point. From there, it’s a straight 1,500-mile shot to the Rockies. Pittsburgh not only faces but opens the great heartland of America. Before the canals and railroads, the Ohio and Mississippi river systems were the interstate highways of their day.