A Three-Way Continental Divide
Posted by: 
BruceS
N 47° 19.188 W 092° 28.211
15T E 540038 N 5240839
Historical marker noting the location of a 3-way continental divide in northern Minnesota.
Waymark Code: WM2PVD
Location: Minnesota, United States
Date Posted: 12/03/2007
Views: 175
A Three-Way Continental Divide
A drop of rain water falling here in the Giants Range, a rare three-way
continental divide, may flow either north into the icy Hudson Bay, east into the
Atlantic Ocean, or south into the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
From the north slope of these very old granite ridges, streams flow into
the Red River of the North, through Lake Winnipeg, and into Hudson Bay in
northern Canada.
Creeks and rivers on the south slope flow into the St. Louis River, enter
Lake Superior at Duluth, and eventually reach the north Atlantic through the
Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River.
On a western spur of Giants Range the great watershed of the immense
Mississippi River system gathers the flow from a maze of streams and swamps as
the legendary river begins its winding course from Lake Itasca to the Gulf of
Mexico, more than 2,500 miles away.
Lying as it does near the center of the North American continent,
Minnesota marks the transition between eastern woodlands and western prairies
and between northern coniferous forests and rich grain-growing land of the
mid-nation. It is a land of dramatic differences, tied to the world
through three great waterways that originate in these rocks and streams.
~ text of marker