32O PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 



The most elevated portion of that state, extending north-easterly across 

 it a little north of its centre, covered with numerous lakes and isolated 

 mountains, is the virtual extension of the more elevated area of our 

 White Mountain region. This area is not, however, continuous to Con- 

 necticut lake, from which it is separated by the drainage basin of the 

 Upper Ammonoosuc and the deep valley of the Androscoggin. The 

 general direction of mountain chains of the Appalachian system is thus 

 seen, although the arrangement of our mountains departs from the 

 general type of the great Alleghanian ranges, as seen in Vermont and 

 Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and North Carolina. Instead of 

 occurring as one continuous chain, our mountains form a group, made up 

 of several parallel ridges or short chains, extending north and south, the 

 highest summits of these successive ridges, in order from south-west to 

 north-east, being Moosilauke, Kinsman, Lafayette, Twin mountain, Mt. 

 Washington, and Mt. Carter. East and west ridges and scattered peaks 

 also occur, especially near the south and south-east limits of the group. 



The relation which this great mountain region holds to the water- 

 power of the state is three-fold. It places one seventh of our state at a 

 greater elevation above the sea than any other section of New England, 

 giving a correspondingly increased amount of water-power in the descent 

 of its streams. From this elevated mountain area a gradual slope 

 extends, varied by transverse ranges of hills and outcropping ledges in 

 the channels of rivers, producing falls or rapids to within a few miles of 

 the ocean. This increased amount and convenient distribution of water- 

 power cannot be too highly estimated. The available power of the 

 Merrimack river alone has been stated by good authority to be double 

 that of all France. 



The influence of mountains in producing an increased rainfall is well 

 known. Observations in the mountain districts of northern England 

 show a rainfall frequently three or four times that of the lowland around. 

 The average rainfall at Edinburgh, 200 feet above the sea, in three suc- 

 cessive years, was 30 inches ; in the Pentland hills, a few miles south, at 

 700 feet above sea, it was 37.4 inches; at 900 feet above sea, 49.2 inches. 

 Sufficient observations have never been taken to determine the rainfall 

 of our mountain region, and special circumstances may very much 

 reduce this proportion of increase, but it cannot be doubted that a much 



