The writer of this book appears to be local and spent is time coming down the Allegheny from New York state to Pittsburgh. His primary focus was on oil drilling western PA. There are many short vignettes and side bars around the area that can be difficult to follow. I have seen this in other "River" series books. I would be hard pressed to recommend this to anyone unless you are a student of the series as I am. There is a section in the rear called "Steamboats That Have Navigated the Allegheny" that includes interesting tid bits on navigation on the river. Your piece of trivia: only two steam boats made it to Olean, NY considered to be the starting point of the Allegheny. ( )

I suppose that if you are very interested in the history of this particular area, this book is a pleasant enough way to read it. The author takes a somewhat humorous approach, albeit a bit dated as far as racial subjects go. A product of his time. The first 3 chapters, where he describes a boat trip he and his friend took down the Allegheny were very engaging. Then he got down to business and described the geological history, interspersed with human history. After that, he went on to the economical history from logging to oil drilling and how they affected the river. Published in 1942. ( )