NEW HAMPSHIRE, one of the original thirteen United States of America, in lat. 42° 41' —45' 11' n., long. 70° 40'-72° 28' w., is 176 in. long, and on an average 45 m. wide, having an area of 9,2S0 sq.m., or 5,939,200 acres. It is bounded n. by Canada, e. by Maine and the Atlantic ocean, s. by Massachusetts, and w. by Vermont, from which it is separated by the Connecticut river. It has ten counties; the chief towns are Manchester, Ports mouth, Dover, Nashua, Keene, and Concord, the capital. The population, except the recent influx of Irish in the manufacturing towns, is almost entirely descended from the original English and Scottish settlers, It has 18 m. of sea-coast, and one seaport, Ports mouth, at the mouth of the Piscataqua river, with a deep and commodious harbor. Its other chief rivers are the Connecticut and the Merrimack. It is a state of mountains and lakes, much visited by tourists, and called " The Granite State" and " The Switzer land of America." The White mountains lie in the n. central region. Their highest summits are Mt. Washington, 6,285 ft.; and Mt. Lafayette, 5,500 ft. A notch in the White mountains, 2 m. long, and in the narrowest part only 22 ft. wide, affords passage to a road and mountain stream, and is much visited. The lakes and rivers of New Hampshire occupy in all about 110,000 acres. Lake Winnepiseogee is 25 in. long by 1 to 10 ID. wide, with 360 islands, from a few yards to many acres in area, mostly covered
with evergreens. rocky strata consist of metamorphic rock, mica, and talcose slates, quartz, granular limestones, granite, gneiss, and contain magnetic and specular iron ores, beryls, tourmalins, mica, graphite, and steatite or soap-stone. The soil, except in the fertile valleys, is better adapted to pasturage than culture. The winters are long and cold, so that in the mountainous regions mercury sometimes freezes. In the forests are oak, maple, pine, hemlock, spruce, etc. The chief agricultural products are maize, rye, oats, apples, potatoes, and products of the dairy. Numerous water-falls give motive power to many cotton-factories, woolen, iron, and paper-mills, etc. The state has 915 m. of railway, 45 national and 65 savings banks, a college (at Dartmouth), 700 churches, 50 newspapers, an excellent system of free school, and government and judiciary similar to all the American states. New Hampshire was settled in 1623 by colonists from Hampshire in England, who suffered during the colonial period from Indian wars and depredations. The state was organized in 1776. It has furnished a a multitude of emigrants to the newer and more fertile western states. Pop. '10, 214, 360; '40, 284,574; '70, 318,300.