102 CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE 



wasset branch, which they followed beyond Plymouth and past 

 Baker river to the neighborhood of Woodstock. Here they 

 would naturally halt for two reasons : First, the Pemigewasset 

 near this point divides into a net-work of headwater streams, of 

 which the East Branch, Hancook, and Franconia are the chief. 

 Second, the explorers would find themselves in a veritable cul 

 de sac formed by the mountains ; on the right the water-shed of 

 Sawyer and Swift rivers, tributaries of the Saco ; on the left the 

 water-shed of Baker river, and in front the steep dividing crest, 

 down whose northern slope the Wild Ammonusuc tears down 

 to the Connecticut. On the other hand the committee may 

 have followed the valley of Baker river to Warren. Here they 

 would have been surrounded by a circular sweep of mountains, 

 among them Mt. Carr, Mt. Kineo and Moosilauke ; it is likely 

 the way by Baker river would be chosen, rather than that of the 

 Pemigewasset, as the old Indian trail followed the former. On 

 the other hand they must have halted before reaching the height 

 of land at Warren summit ; had they climbed to this point they 

 would have seen the white foam of trout-streams tumbling down 

 toward the north, might have caught glimpses of the frightful 

 precipice of Owl's Head, and could not have failed to see spread 

 before them the broad valley of the Connecticut, with the great 

 ox-bow in Haverhill. None of these things were alluded to in 

 the report of the 1638 committee. It is equally certain they did 

 not follow the Winnepesauke, since the lake would have been 

 encountered before the parallel of 43/^° was reached, but the 

 lake is likewise unmentioned. So that we are forced to con- 

 clude either that this committee followed the Pemigewasset, 

 that they were themselves mistaken as to the distance traversed 

 or that they made a false report. 



In 1639 another committee was sent "to find out the north- 

 ernmost part of Merrimack river." This committee must have 

 made a lame and inconclusive survey, for they established the 

 line at a great pine tree three miles north of the junction of the 

 Pemigewasset and Winnepesauke. 



