Monongahela River
MONONGAHELA RIVER
MONONGAHELA RIVER, an important tributary of the upper Ohio, drains the western slopes of the Allegheny Mountains in northern West Virginia, Maryland, and southern Pennsylvania. Long used by Indians and fur traders, the river played a significant role in the imperial wars of the eighteenth century. After the expedition of Pierre Joseph de Céloron de Blainville along the river in 1749 claimed much of the Ohio River Valley for the French, anxious British land companies began more active expeditions along the same route. During and after the French and Indian War, settlers from Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Maryland pushed west to the Monongahela. Much of the later westward migration traveled down the river.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bissell, Richard Pike. The Monongahela. New York: Rinehart, 1952.
Parker, Arthur. The Monongahela: River of Dreams, River of Sweat. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1999.
Alfred P.James/h. s.
See alsoFrench and Indian War ; Ohio Company of Virginia ; Ohio River .