TheMerrimack River (orMerrimac River, an occasional earlier spelling[1]) is a 117-mile-long (188 km) river[2] in the northeastern United States. It rises at theconfluence of thePemigewasset andWinnipesaukee rivers inFranklin, New Hampshire,[3] flows southward intoMassachusetts, and then flows northeast until it empties into theGulf of Maine atNewburyport. FromPawtucket Falls inLowell, Massachusetts, onward, theMassachusetts–New Hampshire border is roughly calculated as the line three miles north of the river.
The Merrimack is an important regional focus in both New Hampshire and Massachusetts. The central-southern part of New Hampshire and most of northeast Massachusetts is known as theMerrimack Valley.
Several U.S. naval ships have been namedUSS Merrimack andUSSMerrimac in honor of this river. The river is also known for the early American literary classicA Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers byHenry David Thoreau.
The etymology of the name of the Merrimack River—from which all subsequent uses derive, such as the name of the Civil War ironclad—remains uncertain.
There is some evidence that it is Native American. In 1604 the natives of laterNew England toldPierre Dugua, Sieur de Monts, who was leading a colony ofFrench language speakers toAcadia (laterNova Scotia), of a beautiful river to the south. The French promptly pronounced its native name asMerremack. In 1605Samuel de Champlain followed this lead, found the river and renamed itRiviere du Gas.
The French and their name did not remain on the Merrimack. The natives dwelling along the river at the time of European exploration included theAgawam andNaumkeag on the lower reaches, thePawtucket atLowell, Massachusetts, theNashua, Souhegan and Namoskeag aroundManchester, New Hampshire, thePennacook northward fromBow, New Hampshire, and the Winnepisseogee at the source,Lake Winnipesaukee.
According to Joseph B. Walker,[4][full citation needed] relying on Chandler Eastman Potter'sThe History of Manchester (1856),Merremack contains the elementsmerruh ("strong") andauke ("place"—a recognizablelocative ending), and means "the place of strong current,- a term not inappropriate, when we consider ... the river's rapids ...." Potter was an authority on Native American affairs in colonial New England. By contrast, inA Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers,Henry David Thoreau implies that "its name signifies the Sturgeon River."[5]
Walker goes on to cite spellings of "Merimacke", "Merimack" and "Merrimacke" in "the colonial records of Massachusetts", as well as the "Merrimake" and "Merrymake" of a 1721 land grant atPenacook, New Hampshire. William Wood'sNew England's Prospect of 1634 calls the river the "Merrimacke" and locates it eight miles beyond Agowamme (Ipswich, Massachusetts). It hosts, he says, "Sturgeon, Sammon and Basse, and divers other kinds of fish."[6]
Merrimac, Massachusetts, settled in 1638 and originally part ofAmesbury, Massachusetts, was called West Amesbury until 1876, at which time it adopted its current name and spelling.Merrimack, New Hampshire, was incorporated in 1746, spelling its name "Marrymac" in the record of its first town meeting. It was referred to as "Merrimac" into the early 19th century: in the 1810 decennial census, it was spelled "Merrimac", but in the 1820 census and afterward, "Merrimack".
In 1914, US CongressmanJohn Jacob Rogers (MA) petitioned that the official spelling be "Merrimack".[7]
Prior to glaciation, the Merrimack continued its southward course far beyond the present day New Hampshire-Massachusetts border to enter the Gulf of Maine nearBoston. Upon the glacier's retreat around 14,000 years ago, debris deposited north of Boston filled the lower Merrimack Valley, redirecting the river into its current northeast bend at Lowell. TheNeville archaeological site is located along the river's banks in New Hampshire.
On the Merrimack River's banks are a number of cities built to take advantage of water power in the 19th century, whentextile mills dominated the New England economy:Concord,Manchester, andNashua in New Hampshire, andLowell,Lawrence, andHaverhill in Massachusetts.[8] At the mouth of the river is the small city ofNewburyport. Prior to the construction of theMiddlesex Canal, Newburyport was an important shipbuilding city, in a location to receive New Hampshire timber that had been floated downriver.
The Merrimack Riverwatershed covers 5,010 square miles (12,980 km2) in southern New Hampshire and northeastern Massachusetts.[9] It is the fourth largest river basin inNew England.[10]
The river begins in the city ofFranklin, New Hampshire, at the confluence of thePemigewasset andWinnipesaukee rivers. From there, the river flows south through Concord, Manchester, and Nashua, entering Massachusetts at the town ofTyngsborough, where it turns northeast and winds past or throughChelmsford, Lowell,Dracut,Tewksbury,Andover,Methuen, Lawrence,North Andover, Haverhill,Groveland,West Newbury,Merrimac, andAmesbury, to its mouth at the Gulf of Maine between the city ofNewburyport and the town ofSalisbury.
In addition to the Merrimack River mainstem, there are dozens of sub-basins in New Hampshire and Massachusetts making up the watershed. TheU.S. Geological Survey categorizes them into six fourth-level sub-basins usinghydrological codes with the prefix 0107.[11]
The following are some of the other significant rivers found within the six major sub-basins in the watershed, listed moving downstream along the Merrimack:
Since 1951, the Merrimack River has seen many alterations and pollutants. It wasdammed andcanalled, as well as used as a dumping spot forindustrial waste. The Merrimack was essential for textile mill complexes, which used the river for discharge from their factories. Citizens recall that the river had unusual colors, smells, and vegetation as a result of the pollution from textile mills and other human-related waste.[12] In the 1960s, the Merrimack River was one of the tenmost polluted waterways in the United States due to years of unmediated dumping of rawsewage,paper and textile mill discharge, andtannery sludge.[13] In 1966,environmentalistDonald Eaton Carr described the Merrimack as being "...haunted with the oldest and most hopeless pollution of any in the country."[14]
Phthalates, a group of chemicals used in the manufacture of plastics and detrimental to human bodily systems, were identified in high concentrations within the river in 1973.[15] A 1976 study of the chemical dynamics of the Merrimack River found that at that time, the biggest pollution source wasroad salt.[16] Although the river underwent significant restoration efforts from the 1970s onwards, a 1997 study found that the river continued to suffer from the long-term effects of pollution.[13] The study identified that the river had elevatedbacteria counts, lowdissolved oxygen, and highnutrient levels. A few years later, a 2002 statewide water assessment stated that elevated counts ofE. coli andfecal coliform contributed to the river's largest cause of water quality violations. By the 2000s, the largest pollution concern wascombined sewer overflow. Wildlife has been impacted through the contamination ofshellfishing beds as well as habitat contamination, and aquatic life has been affected due to excesslead,zinc, and other metals in the river. In addition, human recreational activities such asswimming andboating have been restricted in certain areas of the river due to high contamination levels.[13]
The FederalClean Water Act of 1972 led to significant improvement for the Merrimack River. The law required sewage to be treated before being discharged into waterways.[8] Federal funding allowed officials to create the river's infrastructure, specifically funding forwastewater treatment plants (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 2006). Following these changes in the river's infrastructure, there was a noticeable change in wildlife and aquatic life. Birds, fish, and other animals returned to inhabit the river, with citizens noting specifically seeing much moreAmerican shad,striped bass,trout, andAtlantic salmon. The involvement of local volunteers in monitoring and maintaining the river has provided effective restoration efforts over the years.[8]
The Merrimack River remains one of the most endangered rivers in the United States, as named by the American Rivers nonprofit in 2016.[17] Current concerns includestormwater runoff, urban stormwater, high levels of bacteria, combined sewage runoff,phosphorus creating harmfulalgal blooms, reduced oxygen levels, illicit sewage discharges, andlitter. Combined sewer overflows (CSO) are the largest contributors to waste discharge into the Merrimack River. Currently, there are sixsanitary sewer systems from which untreated sewage flows directly into the Merrimack River due to infrastructure issues within the sewage system.[18] Recent research has identifiedmercury contamination as a significant threat to fish and aquatic life in the Merrimack River.[19] This research analyzes how biological mercury hotspots and watershed transport of mercury might contribute to the exposure of aquatic life to chemical pollution within the Merrimack River. Additionally, the use ofroad salt in the winter has remained a major pollutant since the 1970s, and chloride contamination in the Merrimack River continues to impact aquatic life.
United States politicians from New Hampshire and Massachusetts are calling for theUnited States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to reassess a permit allowinglandfill water to be dumped into the Merrimack River. Politicians are also seeking increased federal funding to update water infrastructure for the Merrimack River, as the river's current sewer infrastructure has resulted in the dumping of over 100,000 gallons of untreated water into the river.[20]
The Merrimack is listed as one of the Navigable Waters of the United States, subject to Section 10, Rivers and Harbors Act Jurisdiction.[21]
While the Merrimack River is prone to minorflooding, on May 15, 2006, rainfall raised the river more than 8 feet (2.4 m) above flood stage, forcing evacuations, damaging property, and breaking the main sewage pipeline in the city ofHaverhill, Massachusetts, dumping 35×106 US gallons (1.3×108 L) of raw sewage waste into the river per day. Reports of total rainfall vary, but most areas appear to have received around a foot of rain with some areas receiving as much as 17 inches (43 cm).
According toThe Boston Globe, around 1,500 people evacuated their homes to escape the flood.[22]
This flood also prompted theMassachusetts city ofLowell to install a modern (albeit temporary) flood control gate comprising square steel beams at the site of the historicFrancis Gate, a 19th and 20th-century wooden flood gate. When lowered, the Francis gate seals the city's canal system off from its source on the Merrimack. The Great Gate, as it is also called, was built in 1850 under the direction ofJames B. Francis. Considered unnecessary when it was first constructed, "Francis' Folly" first saved the city in 1852 and subsequently in 1936.
The most significant flood in the recorded history of the Merrimack was in March 1936, when a double flood of rain and melting snow and ice swelled the Merrimack at Lowell to 68.4 feet (20.8 m), 10 feet (3 m) higher than the 2006 flood. Part of theJack Kerouac bookDoctor Sax is set during this event.
In addition to the 1936 flood, the 1852 flood, and the Mother's Day Flood of 2006, theNew England Hurricane of 1938 and floods in October 1996 and April 2007 round out the river's most serious[23] flood events, measured at Lowell. The Francis Gate had been left in place after being dropped in 1936, so it prevented flooding in 1938 as well. In 2007, the steel beam system was again assembled in place.
The song "Merrimack River" and its instrumentalreprise are featured on the 2009 albumAmanda Leigh by Nashua, New Hampshire, nativeMandy Moore.
Anya Seton's historical novelAvalon includes a section depicting the fictionalPre-Columbian arrival of 9th century Irish and English travelers at the Merrimack River and their interactions with localNative Americans.
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