The source of the Androscoggin River, which winds through and defines the narrow valley at Shelburne, is Lake Umbagog. Lake Umbagog is one of a number of lakes comprising the Rangeley Lake system in western Maine and straddles the Maine-New Hampshire border. The headwaters of the Androscoggin flow primarily from those lakes in Maine, and the river makes only a brief passage through the state of New Hampshire before it turns east and back into Maine for its eventual journey to the Atlantic Ocean at Merrymeeting Bay in Maine.
The valley was scoured by glacier during the last ice age, and after the glacier's retreat more than 15,000 years ago, consisted of a number of lakes linked by short river passages. As the lakes dried, a rich alluvial field of intervale soil was deposited along the river's channel. The river drops 1,500 feet in elevation over its 165 mile length, with over half of that drop in the 60 miles between Lake Umbagog and Shelburne at the Maine border. At the time of colonial discovery the river had numerous waterfalls and cascades along its entire length. The river was then not navigable, except by birch bark canoe. More than 344,000 acres of New Hampshire watershed drain into the Androscoggin River.
Before it reaches Shelburne, the river makes an abrupt change of course from its southerly flow toward the White Mountains, turning then eastward and back into Maine. The narrow Shelburne valley through which it cuts is hemmed in by steep mountain ranges on both the north and the south. The rugged Mahoosuc Range described above rises dramatically to over 3,000' on the north side of the intervale, while the Carter Moriah Range of White Mountain summits presents an even higher south wall to the valley. First Mountain, with its summit elevation of 1,685 feet, is the largest and highest of the front range of mountain summits on the north side of the valley. As seen from Gorham to the west, it is easy to oberve the distinct three in line summits of First Mountain, Middle Mountain, and Bald Cap Peak and recognize how they came to be named.
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