CHAPTER XI. 



RIVER SYSTEMS OF NEW HAMPSHIRE. 



BY WARREN UPHAM. 



>F the entire area of New Hampshire it is estimated that one sixth 

 part is covered with water. Fifteen hundred streams are delineated 

 on the various county and other maps ; and numerous lakes and ponds 

 are scattered over the entire state. The object of this chapter will be to 

 present a description of our different hydrographic divisions ; and to con- 

 sider the influence of the position, physical features, and climate of our 

 state upon the distribution and character of its rivers and lakes. 



New Hampshire is divided into five hydrographic districts, which are 

 drained by the Connecticut, Merrimack, Androscoggin, Saco, and Piscat- 

 aqua rivers. None of these river systems is wholly comprised within the 

 limits of the state. The description of these districts should embrace 

 both the principal river, with tributaries and lakes, and also the area 

 drained, or river basin. Of the rivers, the features which require notice 

 are the direction and extent of their course, their volume, and their slope 

 or rapidity of descent. Of the drainage basins, the particulars to be 

 noted are position, area, elevation, and proportion of surface covered by 

 forest. The relations of rain-fall and temperature, being nearly uniform 

 in the different portions of the state, are left to be considered with the 

 other general conditions on which the hydrographic character of the 

 state depends. 



