The Souhegan River is a tributary of the

Merrimack River The Merrimack River (or Merrimac River, an occasional earlier spelling) is a river in the northeastern United States. It rises at the confluence of the Pemigewasset and Winnipesaukee rivers in Franklin, New Hampshire, flows southward into M ...

in the northeastern United States. It is long, with a drainage area of , and flows north and east through southern

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 ...

to the Merrimack River. The river begins in

New Ipswich, New Hampshire New Ipswich is a New England town, town in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 5,204 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. New Ipswich, situated on the Massachusetts bo ...

, at the junction of the river's South Branch and West Branch. Flowing northeast, it passes through the center of Greenville and descends through a narrow valley to Wilton, where it turns east. The river valley broadens below Wilton, and the river passes through the center of Milford, crosses the southern portion of Amherst, and enters the town of Merrimack. Shortly upstream of the town center, the river passes over Wildcat Falls, then crosses under the

Everett Turnpike The Frederick E. Everett Turnpike, also called the Central New Hampshire Turnpike, is a controlled-access toll road in the U.S. state of New Hampshire, running from the Massachusetts border at Nashua north to Concord. The Everett Turnpike i ...

and

U.S. Route 3 U.S. Route 3 (US 3) is a United States Numbered Highway running from Cambridge, Massachusetts, through New Hampshire, to the Canada–United States border near Third Connecticut Lake, where it connects to Quebec Route 257. Massachu ...

to reach the Merrimack River. The river is used for water supplies, a small amount of

hydropower Hydropower (from Ancient Greek -, "water"), also known as water power or water energy, is the use of falling or fast-running water to Electricity generation, produce electricity or to power machines. This is achieved by energy transformation, ...

, and recreation. There are 28 threatened or

endangered species An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching, inv ...

sharing the

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 ...

with 35,000 people. It is part of the New Hampshire Rivers Management Protection Program. It was one of two rivers studied by the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services to reach data and recommendations about allowable "instream flow".NHDES Souhegan River instream flow study
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Etymology

The name "Souhegan" comes from the language of the Native American

Algonquins The Algonquin people are an Indigenous people who now live in Eastern Canada and parts of the United States. They speak the Algonquin language, which is part of the Algonquian language family. Culturally and linguistically, they are closely ...

, meaning "waiting and watching place". Tribal fishermen set

weirs A weir or low-head dam is a barrier across the width of a river that alters the flow characteristics of water and usually results in a change in the height of the water level. Weirs are also used to control the flow of water for outlets of l ...

across the

rapids Rapids are sections of a river where the river bed has a relatively steep stream gradient, gradient, causing an increase in water velocity and turbulence. Flow, gradient, constriction, and obstacles are four factors that are needed for a rapid t ...

, and then waited and watched for fish, including

salmon Salmon (; : salmon) are any of several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the genera ''Salmo'' and ''Oncorhynchus'' of the family (biology), family Salmonidae, native ...

, alewives,

sturgeon Sturgeon (from Old English ultimately from Proto-Indo-European language, Proto-Indo-European *''str̥(Hx)yón''-) is the common name for the 27 species of fish belonging to the family Acipenseridae. The earliest sturgeon fossils date to the ...

, and

eel Eels are ray-finned fish belonging to the order Anguilliformes (), which consists of eight suborders, 20 families, 164 genera, and about 1000 species. Eels undergo considerable development from the early larval stage to the eventual adult stage ...

s. Souhegan High School, which serves the towns of Amherst and Mont Vernon, is named after the river. The name of

Skowhegan, Maine Skowhegan () is the county seat of Somerset County, Maine, United States. As of the 2020 census, the town population was 8,620. Every August, Skowhegan hosts the annual Skowhegan State Fair, the oldest continuously held state fair in the Unit ...

, comes from the same term.

References

External links

Souhegan Watershed Association

Souhegan River river gauge
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United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), founded as the Geological Survey, is an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior whose work spans the disciplines of biology, geography, geology, and hydrology. The agency was founded on Mar ...

River entry at Guidesly.com
{{authority control Rivers of Hillsborough County, New Hampshire Rivers of New Hampshire Tributaries of the Merrimack River New Hampshire placenames of Native American origin

Etymology

See also

References

External links