The Piscataquog River is a New Hampshire GRANIT state geographic information system
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river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...

located in southern

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by 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 (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. It is a

tributary A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or 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 drain the surrounding drainage ...

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 Mas ...

, which flows to the

Gulf of Maine The Gulf of Maine is a large gulf of the Atlantic Ocean on the east coast of North America. It is bounded by Cape Cod at the eastern tip of Massachusetts in the southwest and by Cape Sable Island at the southern tip of Nova Scotia in the northeast ...

. The Piscataquog River begins at the outlet of

Deering Reservoir Deering Reservoir is a water body located in Hillsborough County in southern New Hampshire, United States, in the town of Deering. The lake serves as the headwaters to the Piscataquog River, which flows east to the Merrimack River in Manchester. ...

, a lake in

Deering, New Hampshire Deering is a town in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 1,904 at the 2020 census. History First settled about 1765, the town was incorporated on January 17, 1774, by John Wentworth, governor of the Province of ...

. The river takes a winding course north, then east, then south, then east again through Hillsborough County to reach the Merrimack River in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

. On its way, it passes through the town of Weare, where it is impounded in two

reservoirs A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation. Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including control ...

—

Weare Reservoir Weare Reservoir is a impoundment on the Piscataquog River in Hillsborough County in southern New Hampshire, United States, in the town of Weare. The reservoir is also known as Lake Horace. It is classified as a warmwater fishery, with observed ...

(or "Lake Horace") and Everett Lake. Everett Lake is part of the

watershed Watershed is a hydrological term, which has been adopted in other fields in a more or less figurative sense. It may refer to: Hydrology * Drainage divide, the line that separates neighbouring drainage basins * Drainage basin, called a "watershe ...

-spanning Hopkinton-Everett

flood control Flood control methods are used to reduce or prevent the detrimental effects of flood waters."Flood Control", MSN Encarta, 2008 (see below: Further reading). Flood relief methods are used to reduce the effects of flood waters or high water level ...

reservoir — a canal crossing the drainage divide connects Everett Lake to Hopkinton Reservoir, which impounds the

Contoocook River The Contoocook River () is a river in New Hampshire. It flows from Contoocook Lake on the Jaffrey/ Rindge border to Penacook (just north of Concord), where it empties into the Merrimack River. It is one of only a few rivers in New Hampshire that ...

. The Piscataquog proceeds south from the Everett Dam along the eastern side of Weare, entering Goffstown shortly before the river's junction with the South Branch, the Piscataquog's largest tributary. From Goffstown to the river's mouth there are two small reservoirs and several additional dams, each constructed for hydroelectric power or older industrial development. In west Manchester, the Piscataquog passes under the Nazaire Biron Bridge and reaches the Merrimack River just upstream of the Queen City Bridge.

References

{{authority control Tributaries of the Merrimack River Rivers of New Hampshire Rivers of Merrimack County, New Hampshire Rivers of Hillsborough County, New Hampshire

See also

References