Topography

Topographically Eaton can be divided into four regions defined by watersheds. In the north is the valley of Snow Brook. Crystal Lake and its tributaries form the southwest corner of this region. South of Crystal Lake is another region, a valley running south from Hatch Pond through a string of lakes that eventually drain into Danforth Bay. To the east of this valley is a long ridge with Toll Hill at its southern end. On the other side of the Toll Hill ridge and west of Foss Mountain is the third region, the Stony Brook valley that drains south and west to Danforth Bay. Finally, the eastern side of Eaton consists of several small valleys that form the headwaters of the Shepards River.

The Snow Brook valley starts at an elevation of about 750 feet near the intersection of Hatch Road and the Brownfield Road. This valley runs west to Route 153 where it meets the Crystal Lake drainage at an elevation of about 477 feet. Then it turns north and then east, emptying into the southern end of Conway Lake at around 445 feet elevation. This valley is bordered on the north by Crown Hill (elevation 1200 feet), Birch Hill (1070 feet), and Atkinson Mountain (980 feet) and on the south by a ridge connecting Stewart Hill (1644 feet) and Kent Hill (1642 feet) with Manson Hill (1544 feet.) To the west of Snow Brook and Crystal Lake is Rockhouse Mountain, elevation 1478 feet.

The string of lakes heading south from Hatch Pond starts at an elevation of 480 feet between Hatch Pond and Crystal Lake. It descends from Hatch Pond at 474 feet through Long Pond at 462 feet to Purity Lake at 458 feet. These lakes are flanked on the west by the shoulders of Lyman Mountain (1560 feet) and in the southwest by Bald Ledge (1192 feet) in East Madison. The Toll Hill ridge starts at a saddle west of Mansion Hill at an elevation of 1044 feet and runs southwest to a peak of 1198 feet, then south to a peak of 1152 feet, and then southwest again to the top of Toll Hill (1036 feet.)

This same ridge forms the western boundary of the Stony Brook valley which is bordered on the east by the Foss Mountain ridge. The northern high point of this ridge is bare granite at a height of 1654 feet. The ridge runs south by southeast to another high point at 1628 feet. Stony Brook joins the drainage of Purity Lake in southwest of Toll Hill in the town of Freedom. Together the string of lakes and Stony Brook make up the Danforth Ponds watershed.

The Foss Mountain ridge is the western boundary of the headwaters of the Shepards River. The southern boundary of this part of Eaton is Cragged Mountain whose peak at 1812 feet is just over the boarder in Freedom. The highest point in Eaton is 1736 feet on a shoulder of Cragged Mountain at the three-way boundary between the Shepards River, Danforth Ponds, and Loon Lake-Ossipee River watersheds. Four perennial streams drain the eastern side of Eaton. The main branch of the Shepards River cuts across the northeast corner of Eaton. It is joined by an unnamed stream that originates on the north slope of Stewart Hill. South of this is Linscott Brook which starts in a beaver pond just east of Foss Mountain. Cole Brook drains the southeast corner of town.