306 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 



MERRIMACK RIVER SYSTEM. 



The Merrimack river receives this name south from Franklin, where 

 the Pemigewasset and Winnipiseogee rivers unite. Its area of drainage 

 in New Hampshire is about 3,825 square miles, or four tenths of the 

 state. This river system comprises the central portion of New Hamp- 

 shire, including our principal lake region, and has its source in the centre 

 of the White Mountains. Our largest cities have grown up along the 

 Merrimack, and its name has become associated, like those of Winnipiseo- 

 gee lake and Mt. Washington, with all descriptions of the Granite State. 



From its source in Franconia to the Massachusetts line, its general direc- 

 tion is S. 8 E., being 100 miles in a direct course, or 105 miles following 

 the principal bends in the river. The first thirty-eight miles of this dis- 

 tance is nearly S. 5 E. ; it then bends nearly west four miles to Bristol 

 village, and this is the only considerable deviation from its general course. 

 From this point to the mouth of the Suncook river, a distance of thirty- 

 three miles, it runs nearly S. 20 E., thence a distance of thirty miles its 

 course is about S. 2 E. to the Massachusetts line. After passing beyond 

 the limits of the state, the Merrimack bends to the north-east, the 

 boundary line south of Rockingham county being parallel with its course 

 and three miles distant. Its total length is about 144 miles. 



The upper part of the Pemigewasset valley is narrow, and closely 

 bordered on both sides by mountain ranges. The intervals begin in 

 Thornton and Campton. The high sandy plains, which are characteristic 

 of this valley southward, commence at New Hampton. The alluvial 

 area along this river is much wider than on the Connecticut, and the 

 hills rise less abruptly upon either side. The proportion of this basin 

 covered by forest is probably nine tenths north of Plymouth, and two 

 thirds southward. 



Winnipiseogee Lake. The hydrographic basin of Winnipiseogee lake 

 comprises about 350 square miles. Its waters flow into the Merrimack, 

 though the general level of the country would seem to ally it with the 

 waters of the Saco or Cochecho valley. The height of the divide 

 separating it from the latter is only seventy-two feet at the lowest place. 



The lake is quite irregular in form. Its general course is S. 25 E., 

 with several long bays or arms. On the south is Alton bay, eight or ten 



