RIVER SYSTEMS OF NEW HAMPSHIRE. 303 



New Hampshire, the Connecticut basin embraces about 3,750 square 

 miles in Vermont, or four tenths of that state, making a total of more 

 than 6,800 square miles in both states, nearly all of which contributes to 

 the water-power of this river along our western border. 



The general course of the head stream of the Connecticut river, 

 passing through Second and Connecticut lakes to the mouth of Hall's 

 stream, is S. 6o W.,* being a distance of twenty-five miles from its 

 farthest sources in a direct line, and of twenty-eight miles from Third 

 lake, following the course of the river. The descent along this distance 

 is comparatively rapid, with few and narrow intervals. The surface of 

 the country is moderately hilly but not rugged, and more than nine-tenths 

 is still covered with the original forest. 



From the mouth of Hall's stream to the head of Fifteen-miles falls in 

 Dalton, the general course is S. 13 W., a distance of forty-two miles in 

 a direct line, or forty-six miles, if we follow the principal bends in the 

 river. Along this whole distance are the fertile intervals of the upper 

 Connecticut valley, varying from one half mile to a mile in width. The 

 surface back from the immediate river valley rises in bold hills or moun- 

 tains, and fully four fifths of its area is covered by forest. 



From the head of Fifteen-miles falls, near the mouth of John's river, to 

 the mouth of the Passumpsic, the course of the Connecticut is S. 70 W., 

 being a distance of eighteen miles in a direct line, or about twenty, 

 following the stream. Opposite to this portion of the river, on the east 

 and south-east, is the elevated mountain region of the state. Here the 

 descent is rapid, and the surface more broken than in any other part of 

 the course of this river. Its direction is also bent to the west along this 

 distance, beyond which the general course of the upper is again followed in 

 the lower valley, with but slight deviation, almost to the Massachusetts line. 



This course from the mouth of the Passumpsic to Brattleborough is 

 S. 1 6 W., a distance of 103 miles in a straight line, or 107 by the course 

 of the river. Along this distance the river intervals and terraces of the 

 valley usually extend from one half to a mile and a half in width on 

 each side of the river, but are occasionally interrupted on one or both 

 sides by encroaching ranges of hills. The water-shed which separates 

 this portion of the Connecticut basin from that of the Merrimack, every- 



* All courses here given are referred to the true meridian. 



