Mauch Chunk Mountain is a long barrier ridge in northeastern Pennsylvania near Jim Thorpe, running about 12.5 miles as part of the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians south of the Poconos. More than a single summit, it helped shape the narrow valleys that guided settlement, mining, and transportation in an anthracite-rich region. From about 1792, the valley beside the mountain became an early coal route from Summit Hill, with pack mule trails carrying anthracite to the Lehigh River. Across the same valley, the Mauch Chunk and Summit Hill Switchback Railroad, founded in 1827, began in the coal trade and later became a celebrated tourist attraction before ending in the 1930s.