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Raystown Branch Juniata River

river in the United States of America

Architectural plans, a scale model, maps and brass measuring instruments
Places and architectureInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 28, 2026
Entity authorityQ7299385 ↗
Source-derived summary

The Raystown Branch Juniata River is the largest and longest tributary of the Juniata River in south-central Pennsylvania in the United States.

The Raystown Branch Juniata River begins along the Allegheny Front in Somerset County and flows 123 miles (198 km) to the confluence with the Juniata River near Huntingdon. It passes through the boroughs of Bedford and Everett along its course.

Approximately 5.4 miles (8.7 km) upstream of the mouth, the United States Army Corps of Engineers Raystown Dam forms Raystown Lake, the largest lake entirely within Pennsylvania.

Course

Beginning at an elevation of approximately 2720' in an area of wetlands near the intersection of White Horse Road and Saylor Road near Berlin in Somerset County, the Raystown Branch flows north as a small stream along the forested mountainside of the Allegheny Front.

It passes under the Pennsylvania Turnpike at the eastern portal of the Allegheny Mountain Tunnel. Then the Raystown loosely parallels the highway's path down the mountain, eventually turning East and passing on the north side of the community of New Baltimore.

The river continues to parallel the turnpike to Bedford, where it enters the borough from the north. There are two lowhead dams within its course through the borough.

As it continues East, the river carves a water gap known as the Narrows, through which the turnpike and US 30 both pass.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Raystown Branch Juniata River” is river in the United States of America. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Raystown, Branch and Juniata, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA valuable geographic starting point for tracing changing names, boundaries, uses and administrative responsibility. The current 226-word lead offers orientation but no explicit four-digit date, so chronology should not be assumed. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. For this dossier, Raystown, Branch and Juniata is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “river in the United States of America” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 28, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7299385. Authority coordinates are 40.441, -77.984. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 2 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.

Critical limits

A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.

Best used for
  • Historic place names
  • Jurisdictional context
  • Routes into maps and plans
Verify next

Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Raystown Branch Juniata River”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Raystown Branch Juniata River primary sources, Raystown Branch Juniata River archive and Raystown research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Raystown Branch Juniata River”?
  2. Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
  3. Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
Subject index

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Raystown Branch Juniata River” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.