Neptune's Needle

c.110 miles long, SE N.H. and NE Mass.; formed at Franklin, S central N.H., by the junction of the Pemigewasset (rises in the White Mts.) and Winnipesaukee (flows SW out of L. Winnipesaukee and Winnisquam L.) rivers; flows S past Concord, Manchester, Merrimack, and Nashua (all in N.H.), and into NE Mass., past Dracut, Lowell, Haverhill, and Lawrence, then turns ENE to the Atlantic Ocean at Newburyport, widens into 3-mile-wide bay before entering ocean through narrow channel. With its numerous tributaries, the river drains most of S N.H. and NE Mass. The river was a source of power for textile mills from c.1820 to 1930 with several large dams; this traditional industrial base has since moved to the Carolinas and other states.

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Compiler

Peter Richards