river
A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...
located in southeastern
New Hampshire
New Hampshire ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...
in the
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
. It is a
tributary
A tributary, or an ''affluent'', is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream (''main stem'' or ''"parent"''), river, or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries, and the main stem river into which they ...
of the
Lamprey River
The Lamprey River is a river in southeastern New Hampshire, the United States. It rises in Meadow Lake in Northwood, and flows south, then generally east through Raymond, Epping, Lee, Durham and finally Newmarket. Here, it meets Great Ba ...
Piscataqua River
The Piscataqua River (Abenaki language, Abenaki: ''Pskehtekwis'') is a tidal river forming the boundary of the U.S. states of New Hampshire and Maine from its origin at the confluence of the Salmon Falls River and Cochecho River to the Atlant ...
watershed
Watershed may refer to:
Hydrology
* Drainage divide, the line that separates neighbouring drainage basins
* Drainage basin, an area of land where surface water converges (North American usage)
Music
* Watershed Music Festival, an annual country ...
leading to the
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...
geographic information system
A geographic information system (GIS) consists of integrated computer hardware and Geographic information system software, software that store, manage, Spatial analysis, analyze, edit, output, and Cartographic design, visualize Geographic data ...
The river rises in the northeast corner of Fremont and flows east across flat, swampy terrain through the town of Epping. Upon reaching the town of
Newfields Newfield, New Field, Newfields, or ''variant'', may refer to:
People
* Alexa Newfield (born 1991), U.S. soccer player
* Heidi Newfield (born 1970), U.S. country music singer
* Jack Newfield (1938-2004), U.S. journalist
* Marc Newfield (born 1972) ...
, where it is joined by the Fresh River, the river turns northeast and winds through rolling terrain to Newmarket, where it reaches the Lamprey River. The Fresh River joins the Piscassic just upstream from the Piscassic Ice Pond in a marshy area of beaver ponds.
History
The lower part of the Piscassic River was once used as a canal between Neal's Mills in Newfields and the mouth of the Piscassic at the Lamprey River. A small pond which was used to unload and turn barges is located at the base of a rapids just downstream from the ruins of Neal's Mills, between Piscassic Road bridge and the B&M railroad bridge in Newfields. A mule track runs along the northwest bank of the Piscassic downstream from the turning pond.
A small dam just upstream from the Piscassic Road Bridge forms the Piscassic Ice Pond. A wooden icehouse once stood adjacent to the ice pond, just east of the dam. It had a wooden and iron conveyor leading from the pond to a point a door about 15 feet above the ground. In the early 1900s the ice on the pond was often 18 inches thick. Harvesting crews used large saws to cut ice into 3–4-foot swaths. Teams of horses shod with ice shoes were used to extract and haul the ice to the conveyor. The icehouse had about 2–3 feet inner walls filled with insulating sawdust. The icehouse rotted and fell down in the 1950s and little if anything remains of it today.
See also
*
List of rivers of New Hampshire
This is a list of rivers and significant streams in the U.S. state of New Hampshire.
All watercourses named "River" (freshwater or tidal) are listed here, as well as other streams which are either subject to thNew Hampshire Comprehensive Shorelan ...