16 



To'pography. 



Worcester County is on the southern extension of those high- 

 lands which in New Hampshire form the divide between the 

 Connecticut and Merrimack rivers. In Massachusetts all the 

 streams on the west side of the divide drain into the Connecti- 

 cut, while on the east side of the divide the streams in the 

 north section drain into the Merrimack, and those in the 

 southern section drain directly into the ocean. A line drawn 

 from Ashburnham in the northeast corner of the county to 

 Sturbridge in the southwest will about divide these two water- 

 sheds. The principal streams draining the western watershed 

 are the Miller's, Ware, Swift and Quaboag rivers, while on the 

 eastern side are the Nashua, which empties into the Merrimack, 

 the Quinebaug, a tributary of the Nashua, the headwaters of 

 the Assabet and Sudbury rivers, both of which are tributary 

 to the Merrimack, and the Blackstone. 



The general character of the topography is that of gently 

 rounded hills with rather narrow valleys between. Occasionally 

 these hills take the form of distinct ridges running north and 

 south. This is especially the case in the southern part of the 

 county, but on the whole there is little regular arrangement. 

 Elevations are highest at the north end of the county, wKire 

 they average between 1,000 and 1,200 feet above sea level, and 

 decrease gradually towards the south, where they are between 

 700 and 800 feet in altitude. The most prominent hill is 

 Mount Wachusett in Princeton and Westminster, which, with 

 its elevation of 2,100 feet, dominates the entire hill country, 

 and is the highest hill in Massachusetts east of the Connecticut 

 River. 



Soil. 

 In general the soil is a light sandy loam containing many 

 stones. The top soil is underlaid by coarse gravel or hardpan. 

 The better quality of soil is found on the hill slopes, while the 

 valley bottoms are, as a rule, very sandy or gravelly. Low 

 swamps and meadow lands have a black mucky soil, but these 

 are of local occurrence. Although swampy areas are numerous 



