Saco River

River in eastern New Hampshire and southern Maine; length 170 km/105 mi. From its source near Crawford Notch in the White Mountains at an altitude of 580 m/1,900 ft, it flows southeast to the Atlantic Ocean, 8 km/5 mi below the twin cities of Saco and Biddeford, Maine.

The falls at Biddeford, the head of navigation on the river, are the site of a hydroelectric power station. The dam at Union Falls, 13 km/8 mi above Saco and Biddeford, was completed in 1949. In its upper reaches the Saco is a popular canoeing river.