The gap between two segments of Tussey Mountain is currently named Mt. Dallas Gap. That name is derived from the fact that the south end of the northern segment of Tussey Mountain is locally known as Mount Dallas. The gap, in the 1700s, was known as Alliguippy's Gap. In the 1755 so-called Pott's Map, drawn by John Potts, the gap's name is noted as Alliguippy's Gap. The same spelling is employed by John Armstrong in his 'rough draft of the country to the west of Susquehanna.' The spelling of Alleguippys Gap is found on Scull's map of 1759. According to George P. Donehoo, in his volume Indian Villages and Place Names in Pennsylvania, the name is derived from Alleguippas, an Iroquois chief.
Many local historians, through the years and even at the present time, have claimed that the name was derived from Queen Allaquippa ~ who they claim resided on the Tussey Mountain. She was no 'queen' in the sense that Euro~Americans think of a queen. She might have been a female chief, though, and it is for that reason that the first traders and explorers who came in contact with her showed her honor by giving her the epithet 'Queen.' Mr. Donehoo noted, "There is no evidence whatever that this very much talked of Indian woman ever held such a position as 'Queen' of the Indians" and he added "on the Ohio, or anywhere else." Many historians claimed that Allaquippa was a Delaware, but Conrad Weiser, who was experienced enough to be authoritative on the subject, identified her to be a Seneca. Weiser mentioned meeting her and dining with her during his journey through the Ohio Valley in 1748. She did not reside in the vicinity of the gap supposedly named for her in Bedford County. Weiser noted in his journal that after passing Logs Town (in present-day Beaver County), on the 27th of August, his party "Sett off again in the morning early; Rainy Wheather. We dined in a Seneka Town, where an old Seneka Woman Reigns with great Authority. . ."
In the 1740s, Allaquippa and a number of Mingo Seneca were settled in western Pennsylvania where the Chartiers Creek empties into the Ohio River about three miles west of the Forks of the Ohio. At some time prior to 1753, Allaquippa with her band removed to a point southeast of the Forks where the Monongahela and Youghiogheny Rivers merge (i.e. near present-day McKeesport). When Colonel George Washington made his journey to Fort Le Boeuf in the winter of 1753/54 he stopped off on his return trip to visit with Allaquippa.
The Virginians under the direction of Governor Dinwiddie began construction of a fort at the Forks of the Ohio. The French ousted them and expanded on the construction already begun which now became their own Fort Duquesne. Washington was dispatched again, in the summer 1754 to oust the French. His troops built Fort Necessity and it was there before the battle, on 03 July 1754 that Queen Aliquipa, her son Half King, and between twenty-five and thirty families of Seneca met with Washington. As a result of their conferring, the band led by Allaquippa determined to head eastward to be out of the danger brewing between the French and English. Their journey east would take them to George Croghan's Aughwick settlement on Aughwick Creek, a tributary of the Juniata River in present-day Huntingdon County. As far as historical references are concerned, that would have been the first time that Allaquippa set foot in Bedford County.
On 23 December 1754, George Croghan wrote a letter to Richard Peters. He noted that Queen Allaquippa had died in the statement: "and Alequeapy ye old quine is Dead and Left Several Children. . ." It is doubtful that the gap was named for her when she was in this region for only a period of perhaps five months in the fall/winter of 1754.
Of more significance to the subject of whether Allaquippa/ Alleguippy Gap was named for Queen Allaquippa is an entry in the Minutes of the Provincial Council. On 02 March 1754, among other business, the Provincial Council reviewed a report presented by the traders, Patten and Montour. In that report they, like other explorers and traders, noted the distances between various points. One of their entries is the distance of six miles from the first crossing of Juniata to Allaguapy's Gap and five miles from there to Ray's Town. So the traders knew that the name of the gap was Allaguapy's a full four months prior to Queen Allaquippa deciding to bring her band of Seneca eastward from the Forks of the Ohio. So if the name was not derived from Queen Allaquippa, from whom was it derived?
At a meeting of the Provincial Council, held on 22 August 1755, Governor Robert Morris addressed a group of Amerindians that included a brave known as Kanuksusy. The notes taken during that meeting included the entry: "The Governor addressing himself to Kanuksusy the son of old Allaguipas, whose Mother was now alive and living near Ray's Town. . .." According to this information, it would thusly appear that Kanuksusy's mother was the wife of the chief, Allaguipas. So, unlike Queen Allaquippa, Allaguipas' wife actually resided in the vicinity of Ray's trading post.
Bedford County historian Annie M. Gilchrist wrote an article titled Queen Alliquippa, for the Bedford Inquirer in 1951. She made the assumption that the gap was named for the female chief. She also asserted to her readers, without providing the source of her information, that a Delaware village, named Alliquippa, stood on the south side of the Juniata River in the gap.
So where did Mrs. Gilchrist come up with her information? In 1937, Major S. M. Lutz composed an account of the earliest documented journey of any Euro~ American into the region that would become Bedford County. In 1625, the adventurer Thomas Powell led a group of men from Jamestown, Virginia into the wilderness. The group led by Powell made their way northward into the valley drained by Town Creek. Mr. Lutz provided a transcript of Powell's log and accompanied it with his own observations and assumptions in the article that he published in 1937 for the Pioneer Historical Society. As noted elsewhere in this volume, Powell's actual log book was destroyed in a fire and the only source of the information is Lutz's story itself. Lutz claimed that Aliquippa Town contained upwards of five hundred people. He noted that evidence of between fifty and one hundred graves were found in the vicinity. Mr. Lutz was the only historian to advocate this information, until the 1950s when other historians, including Annie M. Gilchrist, began to quote him. Lutz served as the President of the Pioneer Historical Society of Bedford County at the time that he wrote many of his articles on local history. He was the current President in 1939 when a marker was erected along the Lincoln Highway, Route 30 commemorating Queen Allaquippa as the namesake of the gap.
Between 1996 and 2000, the Engineering – Environmental Consultants firm of Skelly and Loy conducted archaeological studies of the region on the property of Paul and Ethel Ford. That property included the original Hartley Tavern on the west slope of Tussey Mountain. A total of 6,133 artifacts were discovered at the site. Included in those artifacts were bone and shell fragments, lithics and other stone projectile points, pieces of ceramics and pipe fragments. The archaeological study confirmed that an Amerindian village, which historians have called Aliquippa Town, would have once occupied the site.
The author of the text of the souvenir booklet for the road marker dedication in 1939 (probably S. M. Lutz), waxed poetic at the end of that piece of writing. He placed his pen in the hand of the spirit of George Washington to write: "The Virginia Colonel has come successfully through two wars. The French have been expelled. The English have given the Colonies their liberty. . . He is returning once again from the field of a great victory. . . ~ the Westmoreland Insurgents. With his staff in all the panoply of war, he comes to Allaquippa Gap. He scans the deserted ruins of the once proud and prosperous village of the gallant warriors of Queen Allaquippa. He dismounts, he uncovers, he bows his head in the spiritual presence of this illustrious Indian Queen, his ever faithful ally. What sublime emotions must have surged in the heart of America's noblest son as with raised head and drawn sword, he salutes the ceaseless sentinels of this most faithful Indian ally ~ Queen Allaquippa ~ to a peaceful eternal farewell." Ultimately, though, it does not matter how poetic one becomes, if the underlying information is incorrect, the poetry means nothing.
In review, since Queen Allaquippa is known to have resided for the entirety of her life, save four months, in the valleys in the vicinity of the Forks of the Ohio, whereas the Iroquois chief Allaguipas resided in the vicinity of Ray's trading post, it is highly doubtful that the gap to the west of Everett would have been named in honor of the former. And since the gap bore the name of Allaguippas four months before Queen Allaqippa ever set foot in this region, it is even more doubtful that the gap was named in her honor. And since the Iroquois chief, Allaguipas and his family did indeed reside near Ray's Trading Post, there is no reason to assume it was not named in his honor.
