Triple Divide Peak (8,020 feet (2,444 m)) is located in the Lewis Range, Glacier National Park in the U.S. state of Montana. It is a hydrological apex of the North American continent, where the Great and Laurentian divides meet at the summit of the peak. Thus, all water that falls at this point can flow to the Pacific, Atlantic, or Arctic oceans (when Hudson Bay is considered an Arctic tributary), making the locale (and surrounding Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park) one of the few places on the Earth whose waters feed three oceans.
Rainfall on the western side of the peak (after several creeks) enters the Middle Fork of the Flathead River, which in turn enters the Clark Fork River, Pend Oreille River, and the Columbia River which empties into the Pacific Ocean at Astoria, Oregon. Flathead Lake and Lake Pend Oreille are also fed by this system of rivers, as well as some man-made lakes on the Columbia River.
After several creeks, the northeastern slope of the mountain sheds water toward Saint Mary Lake, which feeds the St. Mary River, which in turn flows into Oldman River, Saskatchewan River, and the Nelson River, which empties into Hudson Bay. (Some sources, however, consider Hudson Bay to be part of the Atlantic and, thus, Snow Dome – in Jasper National Park, on the border between Alberta and British Columbia, Canada – to be the continent's sole hydrological apex.) Lake Manitoba and Lake Winnipegosis, also in Manitoba, are part of the Hudson Bay watershed as well, feeding Lake Winnipeg via Dauphin River.
Moisture on the southeastern slopes feeds into Atlantic Creek, which in turn enters the North Fork of Cut Bank Creek, Marias River, Missouri River, which joins the Mississippi River at St. Louis, Missouri, before emptying into the Gulf of Mexico near New Orleans. This ultimately reaches the Atlantic.
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Famous quotes containing the words triple, divide and/or peak:
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O’er all the Italian fields where still doth sway
The triple tyrant; that from these may grow
A hundredfold, who, having learnt thy way,
Early may fly the Babylonian woe.”
—John Milton (1608–1674)
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—Karl Marx (1818–1883)
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—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)