Since the orbit and speeds of the earth were
stabilized over four billion years ago, an extremely complex
series of surface changes has occurred that are still taking
place. Between various times and stages of relatively peaceful
existence, like our present, cataclysmic events have upset
our land: monsterous earthquakes beyond conception, mountain
and canyon forming upheavals in never to be recorded numbers,
receding oceans and seas giving place to miles of depth
of erosives and lava and ashes only to be replaced by other
bodies of water, vast areas of volcanic action time and
time again, Sahara-like deserts and post-glacial silt and
sand barrens with storms beyond comprehension, and recently
- several glacial periods; all of these and many more.
The landscape as we see it today is primarily as it was
prior to the start of the last glacial period of about 50,000
years ago, plus the eskers, drumlins, boulder trains, cirques,
kames, varves and other glacial remains. Few rocks that
we can easily study are older than 350 millions of years
(from the Cambrian and Ordovician parts of the Paleozoic
Era). Some may be of Silurian date, since the oldest; but
most have evolved from the igneous, metamorphosed, and sedimentary
rocks during and since the Devonian time. Since the end
of the Wisconsin Glacial Stage (nearly 14,000 years ago)
in our present Cenozoic Era, topographic chn have been few
and barely noticeable. .
Here in our region there are no fossils (these are limited
to the Littleton area), but many other geologic features
are of interest: the meltwater channel which is Valley Street
(Lakeport), the boulder trains from Red Hill socialite-nepheline-syenite
and Ossipee Mts. Moat-volcanics and Conway-granite (reaching
into the Atlantic), the world's most famous ring-dike formation
of the Ossipee Mts., Rattlesnake Is. which is geologically
part of the Belknap Mts., the huge water-shed boulder in
the CoppleCrown Mts., the volcanic-vent on Mt. Belknap,
and others. Your favorite library, rock-shop, or the N.
H. Development Comm. will gladly help you with locations;
but some of the books have misinterpreted the facts.
For the rock collector, mines and minerals in this region
are limited to the iron deposit on Gunstock Mt., the sulphide
prospects (gold, lead, zinc, etc.) off the Parade Rd., the
quartz crystals on Ladd Hill (with a most magnificent view),
the garnet sand of Paugus and Saunders Bays, the amethyst,
sand of Long Is., Conwaygranite pockets in the Belknaps,
the clay and quartz at the foot of Brickyard Mt., fluorescent
socialite of Red Hill, crystals of the Ossipees, and very
few others.
FORMATION OF WINNIPESAUKEE
Surficial and Bedrock Geology studies of New Hampshire
indicate that prior to the Ice Age there was no lake here
as we know it today. The quartz diorite (the primary rock
of the Winnipesaukee basin) was decomposed in place before
and during the glacial period, and the power of the ice
toward the end of the Pleistocene Epoch gouged out the loosened
rock leaving hundreds of hills which are our picturesque
islands in a hauntingly enticing water-world.
Geologists point out that the water level of this lake
has remained about the same as today. Studies of the hillsides,
streams, meltwater channels; intervales, and varved deposits
preclude the possibility of any glacial dams or deep waters
such as Lake Hitchcock that once filled the present Connecticut
R. valley. The conclusion is that the Winnipesaukee River
of 1969 is very nearly the same drainage channel that the
lake has always had.
INDIAN COUNTRY
After the glacial ice receded, when the silt dust storms
died down, following the advance of plant liife onto the
barren landscape, soon after the return of animals, the
aborigines filtered into our lakes region, perhaps in the
footsteps of others dating back close to, 40,000 years ago
(at least in the West). Archeological digs in Manchester,
Claremont, Laconia, etc. do not indicate ages of life here
before 10,000 years ago (the period between ten and twelve
thousand years before present is when most of the large
mammals disappeared from this continent), and the digs at
Lake Assawampsett (Mass.), Reagen Site (Vt.), and Lamoka
Lake (NY) may not pre-date this period. The Pemaquid restoration
in Maine was more recent.
At the height of the Algonquian Indian life in central
New Hampshire, the village of Aquedoctan, of the Winnipesaukee
branch of the Southern fringe of the Abnaki Tribes Confederacy,
was the largest village in the Northeast; and it covered
the shore of what is now Lake Paugus from below Indian Cove
up the Weirs Channel and along the Weirs Beach area to the
foot of Brickyard Mt. Little is recorded of this great community
since its discovery about 1632, and less is passed down
by word of mouth. We do know that this was a fishing and
assembly hamlet of the Woodland People, utilizing the Winnipesaukee
Channel as the prime place to annually install sapling-and-branch
"fish-weirs" to trap the shad run, hence the name
Weirs. At the foot of Brickyard Mt. the Indians mined good
clay for pottery production (one of the few such enterprises
in Northern New England). A large hollowed rock, still on
the hillside at the Weirs Beach, was used as a corn-mill
mortar. Their "council" rock lies in the woods
at the top of the hill. The boulder with a concave spot
on Stone Dam Is. came into use as the place to heat pitch
for the birch-bark canoe manufacture and repair. Maple sugar
was produced from the abundant maples, and sweet "sliver"
from the virgin pines provided a toothsome snack. It is
not likely that many garden plants were grown.
Their language was the Sokoki, and a dictionary and language
book was produced in the last century. An example of a Sokoki
word is Wiwininebesaki, meaning closely "the lakes
region", from which our present name for the lake is
taken (being derived from wwinwi for "around",
Pieces meaning "lake", and akin's - land or region).
Many thousands of artifacts have been unearthed, as well
as an Indian made dugout, and a seven foot skeleton. The
most remarkable object of all was the Mystery Stone found
along the old Indian trail from Winnipesaukee to Waukewan;
a partially polished siliceous sandstone "egg"
about 3 3/4" in diameter with ten figures carved around
it (one of the most superior examples of stone craftwork
in North America). Other relics found are celts, gouges,
scrapers, ceremonials, arrowheads, pestles, plummets, axes,
drills, pipes, knives, and gorgets. If you are interested
in collecting, the local Indian or rock shop can help you
select a location (if the landowner gives consent). Collections
from the Winnipesaukee area can be seen at the Laconia Gale
Memorial Library, Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh (Pa.), the
Harvard Peabody Museum of Archeology and Ethnology, and
several others.
The Winnipesaukee Indians left Aquedoctan in April of 1696,
prior to an expected assault by a volunteer Colonial ranging
party. Though they abandoned their ancient tribal village
forever, eventually taking up residence in St. Francis (Quebec),
scattered families visited Lake Winnipesaukee off and on
through at least 1916.
THE LAKE
This "Beautiful Water of the High Place" has
always been held in very high esteem since primitive man
first came to its scenic shores. Known as Winnipisseoke,
or Winnipiseogee Pond, and dozens of others very similar,
the present Winnipesaukee name was made official by the
New Hampshire legislature of 1933.
With 183 miles of shoreline, an area of 71.8 square miles
(45,952 acres), dimensions at 91/2 miles wide by 21 miles
long, an altitude of 504 feet, and a flotilla of islands
often estimated at 365, our Lake ranks very high among the
world's inland waters. It is the largest of nearly 1311
ponds and lakes in 9,302 square mile New Hampshire. The
depth of 169 feet of water lies beneath your boat South-East
of Rattlesnake Island, with most of the Lake resting between
20 and 100 feet deep. The elevation is changed by the annual
Spring runoff and by an occasional drought (in 1941 the
lake contained approximately 14,600,000,000 less cubic feet
of water than normal, and in 1826 it may have been even
lower). Before man dammed the falls at Lakeport over a 150
years ago, the level was more than three to five feet below
the present. Prior to 1832 the Weirs channel was ' a shallow
way, and a short "river", before the advent of
down stream damming,. of about a three foot drop over a
possible width of 150 feet, until the 1803 bridge was built.
Lake Winnipesaukee was marked in 1899 with the first inland
waterway bouts in the United States, over 300 hazards being
indicated, with the present number of markers, .light-bouys,
and other navigation aids about 600. Navigation charts are
available at all marine stores et. al., and Winnipesaukee
topographical, maps can be purchased at rock and stationary
stores. Public docking facilities are maintained at many
points. Lake Winnipesaukee is unusually pure for an inhabited
body of water, and every effort should be taken by each
property owner, boat operator, municipality, industry, and
visitor to keep it so. With the mushrooming of population,
industry, and recreation, every citizen must be alert to
preserve our Lake as the beautiful heritage it is.
Over 60 streams run into the Lake, from small hillside
brooks to the short Hill River system in the North and the
narrow Merrymeeting River of the South.. Several dozen small
lakes and ponds drain into Winnipesaukee. It may never be
known how such a large and wholesome lake can maintain itself
from such a confined watershed.
Fishing in the "big" Lake is classified as good
by many people, and the State Fish and Game and U. S. Government
hatcheries keep a watchful eye on it. Salmon, lake trout,
bass, and pickerel comprise the principal take, while the
feeder brooks are stocked with brook and rainbow trout (and
some browns) from the 2.5 million fingerlings hatched each
year. Pickerel and perch are popular to the ice-fishermen
while the winter-paving turns the lake-surface into a playground
for fishing, ice-boating, skating, and snowmobiling. Official
State Fishing & Hunting booklets are available from
many sources.
In 1811 a charter was granted for a canal from Alton Bay
to the Sea by way of Merrymeeting, Cocheco, and Piscataqua
rivers. Though the Little Pequakit Canal Co. came into being
in 1819, no work was done on a proposed project that was
intended to eventually extend from the Atlantic Ocean through
our Lake, to Squam Lake, and the Connecticut River, and
on to Lake Champlain and the St. Lawrence.
