Allegany County, New York

Allegany County is a located in the  of. As of the, the population was 49,927. Its name derives from a word, applied by settlers of Western New York State to a trail that followed the. Its is.

History
When counties were established in New York State in, the present Allegany County was part of. This was an enormous county, including the northern part of New York State as well as all of the present State of and, in theory, extending westward to the. This county was reduced in size on, by the creation of , and further on ,  by the creation of , both containing territory now in Vermont.

On, , what was left of Albany County was split into three parts, one remaining under the name Albany County. One of the other pieces,, contained the western portion (and thus, since no western boundary was specified, theoretically still extended west to the Pacific). The eastern boundary of Tryon County was approximately five miles west of the present city of, and the county included the western part of the and the area west of the West Branch of the. The area then designated as Tryon County now includes 37 counties of New York State. The county was named for, colonial governor of New York.

In the years prior to, most of the Loyalists in Tryon County fled to. In, following the peace treaty that ended the , the name of Tryon County was changed to in honor of the general, , who had captured several places in Canada and died attempting to capture the city of , replacing the name of the hated British governor.

was split off from Montgomery County in. In turn, was split off from Ontario County in.

Allegany County was formed in, split off from Genesee County.

From to,  was incorporated into Allegany. From to, some of the county records of Cattaraugus County were kept in Belmont.

The southern part of the county lies within the oil field where was first discovered in the USA, at. Names such as Wellsville and Petrolia (as well as Olean in neighboring Cattaraugus County) indicate areas where oil was formerly extracted. Oil has played out, but is still an important Allegany County resource. Bolivar was named in honor of, the masonic Anti-Spanish agitator.

Geography
According to the, the county has a total area of 2,679 (1,034 ). 2,668 km² (1,030 sq mi) of it is land and 11 km² (4 sq mi) of it (0.41%) is water.

Allegany County is in the southwestern part of New York State, along the border. (Allegany County does not lie along the, as its name would suggest; that river actually runs through the adjacent ). However a small part of the County in the western and southwestern parts does contribute to the Allegheny River Watershed. That watershed eventually contributes to the Ohio and then Mississippi River Watershed. The Eastern part of the County contributes to the Canisteo River Watershed which then proceeds into the Susquehanna River basin eventually proceeding all the way to the Chesapaeke Bay. A very small part of the county in the northwest contributes to the Cattaraugus Creek watershed which flows to Lake Erie, one of the Great Lakes. The majority of the County contributes to the Genesee River, a north flowing river that starts in Pennsylvania in Potter County and proceeds north through Letchworth Park over three large waterfalls. Then moving into the relatively flatlands near Avon and on to Rochester, NY. In Rochester the river flow over three more large waterfalls and then into Lake Ontario. In all Allegany County contributes water to the North Atlantic Ocean via the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River; to the mid Atlantic Ocean through the Susquehanna River and also to the Gulf of Mexico through the Allegheny River/Mississippi River.

The County is entirely within the (note spelling variation), a  along the western side of the. The highest hills in the southern part of the county are in excess of 2,000 feet in elevation, and the terrain slopes generally to the northward. The high hills are composed of rocks of and  age, and the lower elevations to the northward are of  age. The Genesee River, passing downward exposes many segments of the wherever it cuts through rock layers. The highest point in the County is Alma Hill with an elevation of 2,548' above sea level. This is the highest point west of the Catskill Mountains in New York State. The highest point of Interstate 86 is located in the Town of West Almond with an elevation of 2,110'. This is also believed to be the highest point of any Interstate in the New York.

The bisects the county from south to north. In June the remnants of  stalled over the area, dropping more than 20 inches of rain. There was memorable flooding in Wellsville, Belmont, Belfast and other valley communities of the county. The Genesee River is extremely popular with canoists (as it was a favored route for ) and the river abounds in, and.

Adjacent counties

 * - northeast
 * - east
 * - southeast
 * - southwest
 * - west
 * - northwest

Demographics
As of the of 2000, there were 49,927 people, 18,009 households, and 12,192 families residing in the county. The was 19/km² (48/sq mi). There were 24,505 housing units at an average density of 9/km² (24/sq mi). The racial makeup of the county was 97.03%, 0.72% or , 0.28% , 0.72% , 0.37% from , and 0.88% from two or more races. 0.91% of the population were or  of any race. 22.3% were of, 16.6% , 13.8% , 11.9% and 7.0%  ancestry according to.

There were 18,009 households out of which 31.50% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 54.20% were living together, 9.00% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32.30% were non-families. 26.00% of all households were made up of individuals and 11.30% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.53 and the average family size was 3.04.

In the county the population was spread out with 24.40% under the age of 18, 15.50% from 18 to 24, 23.90% from 25 to 44, 22.20% from 45 to 64, and 14.00% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females there were 99.80 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 98.10 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $32,106, and the median income for a family was $38,580. Males had a median income of $30,401 versus $21,466 for females. The for the county was $14,975. About 10.50% of families and 15.50% of the population were below the, including 19.20% of those under age 18 and 7.50% of those age 65 or over.

Additional information about Allegany County
The spelling is used in  as well as in New York;  spells a similarly-named county  which is where the City of Pittsburgh exists, while  and  spell theirs.

While fishing in the Genesee and other area streams is excellent, Wiscoy Creek in the northern part of the county (also in )is one of the most famous trout streams in the area, drawing fishermen from across northeastern USA. Both wild and stocked brown trout are to be found in various stretches of this stream.

Educational institutions
Higher education facilities include:, ,.