The Saco River (/ˈsɑːkoʊ/SAH-koh, Abenaki: Sαkóhki) is a river in northeastern New Hampshire and southwestern Maine in the United States. It drains a rural area of 1,703 square miles (4,410 km2) of forests and farmlands west and southwest of Portland, emptying into the Atlantic Ocean at Saco Bay, 136 miles (219 km) from its source.[1] It supplies drinking water to roughly 250,000 people in thirty-five towns; and historically provided transportation and water power encouraging development of the cities of Biddeford and Saco and the towns of Fryeburg and Hiram.[2]
Samuel de Champlain sailed a portion of the river in 1605 and referred to it as Chouacoet, which he said was the name used by the Almouchiquois people.[3] Various sources also give their name as "Sokoki" (a term also used for the Missiquoi people of western New England) and as being either the ancestors or close relatives of the Pequawket who lived along the river near present-day Fryeburg.[4][5][6] William O. Bright attributed the origin of "Saco" to an Eastern Abenaki language word meaning "land where the river comes out", which he connected to similar place names like Saugus, said to come from the Pawtucket word for "outlet".[7][8]
^U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data. The National Map, accessed June 30, 2011
^DeLorme Mapping Company The Maine Atlas and Gazetteer (13th edition) (1988) ISBN 0-89933-035-5 maps 2,3&4
^Library, McArthur (July 11, 2021). "Champlain's Biddeford-Saco". The Backblog. Retrieved April 20, 2023.
^"Biddeford History & Heritage Project - I. Headwaters of a community: Sowacatuck, Chouacoet, and the sea". biddeford.mainememory.net. Retrieved April 20, 2023.
^McLaughlin, Tom. "The story of the Saco River Canal". The Conway Daily Sun. Retrieved April 20, 2023.
^Chapman, Andy O'Brien and Will (December 12, 2021). "Radical Mainers: From Race War to Class War on the Saco River". Mainer. Retrieved April 20, 2023.
^Bright, William (2004). Native American placenames of the United States. University of Oklahoma Press. p. 413. ISBN 978-0-8061-3598-4. Retrieved April 14, 2011.
^Douglas-Lithgow, R.A. (1909). Dictionary of American-Indian Place and Proper Names in New England. Salem, Massachusetts: Salem Press. p. 157.
The SacoRiver (/ˈsɑːkoʊ/ SAH-koh, Abenaki: Sαkóhki) is a river in northeastern New Hampshire and southwestern Maine in the United States. It drains a...
River Swift River (SacoRiver tributary) Pequawket Brook East Branch SacoRiver East Fork East Branch SacoRiver Ellis River Wildcat Brook New River Cutler...
Saco may refer to: SacoRiver (Maranhão), Maranhão state SacoRiver (Paracauari), Pará state Saco Bay (Mozambique) Saco, Alabama, an unincorporated community...
Biddeford Pool peninsula) and the mouth of the SacoRiver in York County north to the Scarborough River and Prouts Neck in Scarborough, Cumberland County...
The Bridgton and SacoRiver Railroad (B&SR) was a 2 ft (610 mm) narrow gauge railroad that operated in the vicinity of Bridgton and Harrison, Maine. It...
Stroudwater River South Branch Stroudwater River Spurwink River Scarborough River Dunstan River Nonesuch River Libby RiverSacoRiver Old Course SacoRiver Charles...
the United States Navy have been named USS Saco for the SacoRiver and for the Saco, Maine. The first USS Saco (1863) was a gunboat launched in 1863, served...
Presumpscot River drainage basin south of Sebago Lake is between the Royal River drainage basin to the east, and the SacoRiver and Stroudwater River drainage...
Ossipee River is an 18.3-mile-long (29.5 km) river in eastern New Hampshire and western Maine in the United States. It is a tributary of the SacoRiver, which...
The Little SacoRiver is a 4.5-mile-long (7.2 km) tributary of the SacoRiver in western Maine in the United States. It begins at the junction of Haley...
The Old Course SacoRiver is a 21.9-mile-long (35.2 km) river in the towns of Fryeburg and Lovell in western Maine in the United States. It was the route...
the SacoRiver is a 13.2-mile-long (21.2 km) river in the White Mountains of New Hampshire in the United States. It is a tributary of the SacoRiver, which...
of Carroll, near the Crawford Depot train station and Saco Lake, the source of the SacoRiver, which flows southward through the steep-sided notch. North...
Androscoggin River Swift River (Minnesota) Swift River (SacoRiver), a tributary of the SacoRiver, New Hampshire Swift River (Ware River), a tributary...
Pequaki), lived along the SacoRiver and in the White Mountains. Principal village Pigwacket was located on the upper SacoRiver near present-day Fryeburg...
Paugus was chief of the Pequawket tribe which lived along the SacoRiver in present-day Conway, New Hampshire, and Fryeburg, Maine. He was killed at the...
upper SacoRiver, which drains into the Gulf of Maine at Saco, Maine. The northwest side of North Moat Mtn. drains into Lucy Brook, thence into the Saco River...
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