Millers River
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The Millers River is a river in New Hampshire and northern Massachusetts, originating in the White Mountains and joining the Connecticut River just downstream of Millers Falls, Massachusetts.
Millers River drains a total area of about 390 square miles, about 313 square miles of which are in Massachusetts. About 78 percent of the basin is forested, 11 percent is open land, 8 percent is wetland, and 3 percent contains urban areas. The watershed is made up of all or part of 17 municipalities, with a population of approximately 87,000 people. Population centers are concentrated around Gardner, Athol, and Orange.
Many wetlands in the basin indicate areas of former shallow lakes and ponds that have gradually been filled. There are a total of 107 lakes and ponds in the basin, 72 of which have an area of 10 acres or more. Only one lake, Lake Monomonac in Winchendon (592 acres), is larger than 500 acres.
Millers River formed at the end of the last glacial period when several glacial lakes joined and, eventually, drained into the Connecticut River. The river's headwaters are in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, for the North Branch Millers River, and in Ashburnham and Winchendon, Massachusetts.
The North Branch and the main stem of the river join in Winchendon, and the river flows westward to the Connecticut River. Major tributaries of Millers River are the Otter River, which enters the Millers River in Winchendon, and the Tully River, which enters the Millers River in Athol. Both tributaries flow mainly through wetlands. Overall, Millers River has a moderate gradient, averaging about 18 feet/mile from the headwaters area to the USGS streamflow-gaging station at Erving, a distance of about 43 river miles.
However, a 5-mile reach of Millers River through a wooded area between South Royalston and Athol ("the Bear's Den") has an average gradient of about 43 feet/mile, which is about five times the average for rivers in Massachusetts, and some of the most rugged and steep terrain of the state's central upland. The gradient of the tributary Otter River averages about 18 feet/mile for a distance of about 11.5 river miles, and that of the East Branch Tully River, the major tributary of the Tully River, averages about 52 feet/mile over a distance of about 13 river miles.
- Text drawn from Millers River Drainage Basin article by the United States Geographic Survey (USGS), which is in the public domain as an original work of the United States Government.
