[2] The earliest known document to specifically name the Dead River is the 1796 deed of sale by an Indian named Phillip, to Thomas Eames, John Bradly, Jonathan Eastman, and Nathan Hoit.

"Situated between a mountain and a small bluff in a valley at Mainsbourgh, to the west of the islands at the falls, lies a river in which the savages call Paumpalussauke which means 'place where the god of the waters dwells.'

In later years, the Glen Manufacturing Company, later purchased by the International Paper Company, used the river to conduct log drives to get pulpwood to its mills located where the Smyth Hydro Park is today.

[5] The pair are leaders in an effort to rename the river to its aboriginal name.

[6] The Dead River is formed where Jericho Brook, flowing out of the White Mountain National Forest and Jericho Mountain State Park from the west, reaches Little People's Pond at a broad, flat valley occupied by NH Route 110 and the St. Lawrence and Atlantic Railroad.