HISTORY OF DEKKVFIELD. 5 



hills, with a host of lesser eminences completing the details of 

 a picturesque landscape, which for quiet and restful beauty is 

 unrivalled in southern New Hampshire. 



Ancient Derr) field included the whole river front, from above 

 the falls at Amoskeag on the north to below Goffe's falls on the 

 south, and the mile-limit to the east crossed the summit of 

 Wilson hill. 



ROCK RIMMON. 



Directly west of Amoskeag falls, upon a level plateau extend- 

 ing from the ancient river terrace, Rock Rimmon lifts its solid 

 shoulder of gneiss above the plain. This rock is an object of 

 great interest, attracts many visitors, and offers a most superb 

 view of the Piscataquog and Merrimack valleys. The easterly 

 escarpment is a sheer and inaccessible precipice of one hundred 

 and seventeen feet, the crest reaching an altitude of more than 

 three hundred feet above the bed of the river.* The summit is 

 easily reached from the western and northern slopes. 



THE PINNACLE. 



Eight miles away to the north, on the west bank of the Mer- 

 rimack, is another bald and rocky peak, mounting also from a 

 terrace-plain, rising even higher than its Derr)field rival. Just 

 west and touching the base of the Pinnacle is a small lake. The 

 water is very deep, is popularly believed to have no bottom, and 

 in area and contour is said to exactly match the outline of the 

 Pinnacle itself. It has been contended that this great mass of 

 rock was lifted bodily from the bed of the lake and the hole 

 afterwards filled with water. When the Pinnacle slides back to 

 its old quarters we may the more reatlily assent to this theory. 

 A substantial observatory hass been erected upon the summit, 

 from which exceptionally fine views may be had. 



* The exact figures, taken from the field-notes of the City En.£;ineer, are as follows : Top 

 of rock above city elevation, 296. -!5 feet ; base above the same level, 179. S3 feet, and about 95 

 feet above low-water mark at Amoskeag eddy. Extreme height of rock, 116.53 ^^^^' 



