CONTINENTAL DIVIDE • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Continental divide

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/kˌɑntənˈɛntəl dɪvˈaɪd/ Listen

Continental divide

noun

The watershed of a continent (especially the watershed of North America formed by a series of mountain ridges extending from Alaska to Mexico).

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Etymology of 'Continental divide'

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"Continental divide" Quotes from Famous Books

... thought to have no knowledge or trustworthy tradition of the ancient inhabitants and are said to care nothing for the curious cemeteries among which they dwell, except as a source of revenue. Mr. A. L. Pinart states, however, that certain tribes on both sides of the continental divide have traditions pointing toward the ancient grave builders as their ancestors. There is probably no valid reason for assigning the remains of this region to a very high antiquity. The highest stage of culture here may have been either earlier or ...

— Ancient art of the province of Chiriqui, Colombia • William Henry Holmes

... island of Tierra del Fuego was to be divided between them. At the same time the Strait of Magellan was declared a neutral waterway, open to the ships of all nations. Ere long, however, it was ascertained that the crest of the Andes did not actually coincide with the continental divide. Thereupon Argentina insisted that the boundary line should be made to run along the crest, while Chile demanded that it be traced along the watershed. Since the mountainous area concerned was of little value, the question at bottom was simply one of power ...

— The Hispanic Nations of the New World - Volume 50 in The Chronicles Of America Series • William R. Shepherd

... of Boston, and also Miss Winthrop, her paternal aunt, and also Mr. Hutchinson Port, of Philadelphia, her maternal uncle—all of whom were but forty hours removed from the Alkali Desert west of the Continental Divide—felt in the very depths of their several beings how entirely good this air was; and, as their several natures moved them, they betrayed their lively appreciation of ...

— A Border Ruffian - 1891 • Thomas A. Janvier

... degree of comfort the trail of the early explorers. If one should then follow the Jefferson Fork of the great river up to its last narrowing, one would reach the country of Cam-e-ah-wit. Here is the crest of the Continental Divide, where it sweeps up from the south, after walling in, as if in a vast cup, the three main sources of the great river. Much of that valley country is in fertile farms today. Lewis and Clark passed within twelve miles of Alder ...

— The Magnificent Adventure - Being the Story of the World's Greatest Exploration and - the Romance of a Very Gallant Gentleman • Emerson Hough

... agricultural territory of Dakota (1861) for the up-river Missouri country, where in a few more years were revealed the riches of the Black Hills. In 1863 the mines of the lower Colorado River gave excuse for Arizona Territory. Those of the northern Continental Divide were grouped in Idaho in the same year, and divided in 1864 when Montana was created. Wyoming, the last of the subdivisions, was the product of mines and railroads in 1868. Oklahoma was not named for twenty years more, ...

— The New Nation • Frederic L. Paxson