Standing at the Pennacook Falls in Rumford, I was exhilarated by the power of whitewater exploding from the granite rock ledges. These great falls, where the Androscoggin River drops 177 feet over solid granite, were called by historian George J. Varney “the grandest cataract in New England.”

A half-mile and three minutes later, standing on the Memorial Bridge in Rumford, I was exhilarated again by the white water falling in a swollen rush of the spring melting of snow and falling rain at Knapp’s Pitch, the second granite ledge of the Androscoggin River in Rumford.

And, having last week seen the Androscoggin at the broad Great Falls in Lewiston and Auburn, I would suggest that folks in those twin cities come to Rumford to see the Great Pennacook Falls, certainly “the grandest cataract in New England.”

There is nothing like it anywhere in the state of Maine.

Tom Fallon, Rumford