The first railroad constructed through the Allegheny Mountains. It operated from 1834 to 1854 as the first transportation infrastructure through the gaps of the Allegheny that connected the Midwest to the eastern seaboard across the barrier range of the Allegheny Front. Approximately 36 miles long overall, both ends connected to the Pennsylvania Canal, and the system was primarily used as a portage railway, hauling river boats and barges over the divide between the Ohio and the Susquehanna Rivers.