Maidstone is six miles downstream from where the River Medway, having flowed in a generally west-east direction, is joined by the Rivers Teise and Beult at Yalding and changes its course to a northerly one. It cuts through the ridge formed by the greensand, so that the town occupies a site on two opposite hills, the easterly one containing the town centre. Beyond that, and higher, is Penenden Heath. The River Len joins the Medway at Maidstone. Though a short river, it provided the water to drive numerous watermills. The Loose Stream, which rises at Langley and joins at Tovil, once
Bell-Irving River and the headwaters of the Unuk River, which flows southwest to the sea near Ketchikan, Alaska, and the Bear River, which flows south to the head of Portland Canal at the community of Stewart, British Columbia. From its source the Bell-Irving River flows generally south through mostly mountainous terrain. It is joined by Craven Creek, then Rochester Creek. The Yukon Telegraph Trail follows Rochester Creek and part of the Bell-Irving River. The Yukon Telegraph line, also called the Dominion Telegraph, grew out of part of the earlier, failed Russian–American Telegraph, and connected Ashcroft, BC, to Dawson City, Yukon. The telegraph