TOPOGRAPHY. 203 



IV. Lake District. This consists largely of the hydrographic basin of 

 Winnipiseogee lake, with sandy plains carrying tributaries of the Saco. 

 It is normally a plain with four isolated mountain masses imposed upon 

 it. These are the Gunstock and Belknap mountains, Red hill, Ossipee 

 mountains east of the lake, and the Green mountain in Effingham. All 

 these mountains are composed of igneous material, which seems to have 

 been poured out over an uneven floor of rocks deposited in the Mont- 

 alban period. 



The Belknap range lies in the towns of Gilford, Gilmanton, and Alton, 

 on the south-west side of Lake Winnipiseogee, covering an area ten by 

 four miles, measured along the greatest diameters. From the point oppo- 

 site Thompson's island in Gilford the ridge gradually rises to the peak 

 known as Belknap. This is directly connected by a low saddle with the 

 Mt. Gunstock of the Coast Survey, 1,914 feet high. From Mt. Belknap 

 a ridge turns south-easterly, and in the extreme north-east corner of Gil- 

 manton makes a curve, so as to run a few degrees north of east towards 

 the lake. This so-called spur is really the main range, and it continues 

 on to Alton, as an essential prolongation of the south-easterly range from 

 Mt. Belknap. In Alton, Mts. Straight-back, Major, Pine, and Avery hill 

 are developments of this group. To the south of these there is a gap 

 low enough for a road from Gilmanton Iron Works to Alton Bay. South- 

 ward the mountainous area terminates in the easterly running hills known 

 as Rocky mountain. The principal part of the region is heavily wooded, 

 save the highest summits, which are practically above trees ; and there 

 is uncultivated land enough to make a township as large as Brookline. 



Red hill received from Dr. Timothy Dwight the name of Mt. Went- 

 worth, at the beginning of the present century. The mountain area is of 

 elliptical shape, with two summits, the northern* 2,043, an d the southern 

 1,769 feet in height. The length is three miles ; the breadth about half as 

 much. It lies chiefly in Moultonborough, and partly in Sandwich. Owing 

 to its proximity to Center Harbor, Red hill is much visited by tourists. 



The Ossipee mountains occupy the largest of all these mountainous 

 areas, of oval form, measuring about six by ten miles, and are situated in 

 the adjacent corners of Moultonborough, Ossipee, Tamworth, and Tufton- 



* Called western by Guyot. 



