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32-579: The Eastern Continental Divide , Eastern Divide or Appalachian Divide is a hydrological divide in eastern North America that separates the easterly Atlantic Seaboard watershed from the westerly Gulf of Mexico watershed. The divide nearly spans the United States from south of Lake Ontario through the Florida peninsula, and consists of raised terrain including the Appalachian Mountains to
64-819: A dramatic arc to the east around the Sinking Creek valley, and then follows the hill crest east of Blacksburg, Virginia , until it meets the Blue Ridge Mountains , which take the form of an escarpment separating the headwaters of the New River from that of the Roanoke River . Just before the Divide passes into North Carolina , it begins to separate the New River and Yadkin River watersheds. It then separates upper tributaries of
96-883: A key problem in such canals is ensuring a sufficient water supply. Important examples are the Chicago Portage , connecting the Great Lakes and Mississippi by the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal , and the Canal des Deux Mers in France, connecting the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. The name is enshrined at the Height of Land Portage on the route from the Great Lakes in the Atlantic drainage basin to
128-601: A network of diverging canals and natural waterways. As such, the land is not clearly divisible between the Gulf of Mexico watershed and the Atlantic watershed. The exact route of the ECD shifts over time due to erosion, tectonic activity, construction projects, and other factors. Because the divide is at or in proximity to the highest terrain, air is forced upwards regardless of wind direction. This process of orographic enhancement leads to higher precipitation than surrounding areas. In winter,
160-698: A particular body of water. At its northern terminus, the Eastern Continental Divide originates at the Eastern Triple Divide , its intersection with the St. Lawrence Divide on a summit named Triple Divide Peak in Potter County , Pennsylvania , about 10 mi (16 km) south of the New York-Pennsylvania border. This point divides the eastern United States into three watersheds, those of
192-766: Is the bifurcation of the Orinoco in the north of South America , whose main stream empties into the Caribbean , but which also drains into the South Atlantic via the Casiquiare canal and Amazon River . Since ridgelines are sometimes easy to see and agree about, drainage divides may form natural borders defining political boundaries, as with the Royal Proclamation of 1763 in British North America which coincided with
224-518: Is used in Canada and the United States to refer to a drainage divide. It is frequently used in border descriptions, which are set according to the "doctrine of natural boundaries ". In glaciated areas it often refers to a low point on a divide where it is possible to portage a canoe from one river system to another. Drainage divides can be divided into three types: A valley-floor divide occurs on
256-652: The Urstromtäler , for example, between Havel and Finow in the Eberswalde Urstromtal . In marsh deltas such as the Okavango , the largest drainage area on earth, or in large lakes areas, such as the Finnish Lakeland , it is difficult to find a meaningful definition of a watershed. A bifurcation is where the watershed is effectively in a river bed, in a wetland, or underground. The largest watershed of this type
288-716: The Black Sea and the Rienz into the Adriatic . Settlements are often built on valley-floor divides in the Alps. Examples are Eben im Pongau , Kirchberg in Tirol and Waidring (In all of these, the village name indicates the pass and the watershed is even explicitly displayed in the coat of arms). Extremely low divides with heights of less than two metres are found on the North German Plain within
320-609: The Hudson Bay drainage basin . Santee River The Santee River is a river in South Carolina in the United States , and is 143 miles (230 km) long. The Santee and its tributaries provide the principal drainage for the coastal areas of southeastern South Carolina and navigation for the central coastal plain of South Carolina, emptying into the Atlantic Ocean about halfway between Myrtle Beach and Charleston near
352-568: The North Santee and South Santee , that flow parallel and separated by approximately 2 miles (3 km), creating Cedar Island . The two channels reach the ocean at Santee Point, approximately 15 miles (24 km) south of Georgetown , and not far from the outlet of the Pee Dee River . The river was named by early English settlers for the Santee tribe , which inhabited areas on the middle part of
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#1732848868341384-636: The Province of Carolina . During the late 18th century, the upper river was the site of the homestead of Francis Marion , a patriot of the American Revolutionary War . The original site of his homestead has been flooded by the reservoir Lake Marion, which is named in his honor. Construction of the 22-mile (35 km)-long Santee Canal , linking the river to the Cooper, was begun in 1793 and finished in 1800. It allowed direct water transportation between
416-607: The St. Lawrence River to the north, the Atlantic seaboard to the east, and the Gulf of Mexico to the west. From north to south, the divide passes through the broader Allegheny Plateau region, following the boundary between the Allegheny River and Susquehanna River watersheds through most of Pennsylvania. At Blue Knob near Altoona , the Divide begins to follow Allegheny Mountain and then Little Savage Mountain . A few miles before
448-696: The Tennessee River from those of the Santee River . Its high point is on Grandfather Mountain at 5,946 feet (1,812 m); although Mount Mitchell is the highest point in the Appalachian Mountains, it is not on the Divide, but 4 miles west of it. In Georgia , the Divide generally separates the Apalachicola River watershed in the west from the Savannah River and Altamaha River watersheds to
480-539: The 1970s at the southern end of the lake connects to Lake Moultrie , a reservoir on the nearby Cooper River . The modern canal is operated by the Santee Cooper agency as part of the larger hydroelectric project on both rivers. The dam was finished in 1941. Downstream from the reservoir it flows east, then southeast, forming the northeast boundary of Francis Marion National Forest . Approximately 10 miles (16 km) from its mouth it bifurcates into two channels, named
512-546: The Indian Reserve; the proclamation border ran along the Appalachian Divide but extended beyond its Pennsylvania-New York terminus north into New England. Drainage divide A drainage divide , water divide , ridgeline , watershed , water parting or height of land is elevated terrain that separates neighboring drainage basins . On rugged land, the divide lies along topographical ridges , and may be in
544-762: The bottom of a valley and arises as a result of subsequent depositions, such as scree , in a valley through which a river originally flowed continuously. Examples include the Kartitsch Saddle in the Gail valley in East Tyrol , which forms the watershed between the Drau and the Gail, and the divides in the Toblacher Feld between Innichen and Toblach in Italy , where the Drau empties into
576-524: The character of both the Cooper and Santee rivers below the project. Deprived of most its water flow, the Santee River became more saline and its ecosystem gradually changed below the dam. The Cooper River received more of the freshwater and sediment loads that used to flow into the Santee and carried them downstream. This has resulted in greatly increasing the dredging costs to keep Charleston Harbor operating as
608-733: The community of McClellanville . The farthest headwaters are 440 miles (708 km) away on the Catawba River in North Carolina . Besides the Catawba, other principal rivers of the Santee watershed include the Congaree , Broad , Linville , Saluda and the Wateree . The watershed drains a large portion of the Piedmont regions of South and North Carolina . The Santee River is the second largest river on
640-594: The divide is often much snowier than surrounding areas, due to orographic enhancement and cooler temperatures with elevation. Prior to about 1760, north of Spanish Florida, the Appalachian Divide represented the boundary between British and French colonial possessions in North America. The Royal Proclamation of 1763 separated settled lands of the Thirteen Colonies from lands north and west of it designated
672-633: The east, passing through the Atlanta metropolitan area and extending past the southern end of the Appalachian Mountains southeasterly across the Georgia plateau . This marks the first time the western watershed drains directly to the Gulf of Mexico without reaching the Ohio River first. In southern Georgia, it separates the Suwannee River and Satilla River watersheds. In Florida , the Divide generally follows
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#1732848868341704-533: The eastern coast of the United States, second only to the Susquehanna River in drainage area and flow. Much of the upper river is impounded by the expansive, horn-shaped Lake Marion reservoir, formed by the 8-mile (13 km)-long Santee Dam. The dam was built during the Great Depression of the 1930s as a Works Progress Administration (WPA) project to provide a major source of hydroelectric power for
736-501: The federal government during the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt . Starting in 1939, the Santee River was dammed, forming lakes Marion and Moultrie, and diverting the river's flow into the Cooper River through a hydroelectric plant at Pinopolis. The WPA project was completed in 1941. Though the project succeeded in providing cheap electricity to modernize rural South Carolina , unintended consequences were changes to
768-522: The form of a single range of hills or mountains , known as a dividing range . On flat terrain, especially where the ground is marshy , the divide may be difficult to discern. A triple divide is a point, often a summit , where three drainage basins meet. A valley floor divide is a low drainage divide that runs across a valley , sometimes created by deposition or stream capture . Major divides separating rivers that drain to different seas or oceans are continental divides . The term height of land
800-749: The north end of the Canaan Valley in the Cheat River watershed, and the Mount Storm Lake basin in the Potomac River watershed. The Divide then rejoins the Allegheny Front. A significant portion of the Divide forms part of the border between West Virginia and Virginia along Allegheny Mountain and then Peters Mountain , separating the Greenbrier River and James River watersheds. It then makes
832-579: The north, the southern Piedmont Plateau and lowland ridges in the Atlantic Coastal Plain to the south. Water including rainfall and snowfall, lakes, streams and rivers on the eastern/southern side of the divide drains to the Atlantic Ocean; water on the western/northern side of the divide drains to the Gulf of Mexico. The ECD is one of six continental hydrological divides of North America which define several drainage basins, each of which drains to
864-510: The ridgeline of the Appalachian Mountains forming the Eastern Continental Divide that separated settled colonial lands in the east from Indian Territory to the west. Another instance of a border matching a watershed in modern times involves the western border between Labrador and Quebec , as arbitrated by the privy council in 1927. Drainage divides hinder waterway navigation . In pre-industrial times, water divides were crossed at portages . Later, canals connected adjoining drainage basins;
896-692: The river. The first European contact was by a Spanish party commanded by Lucas Vázquez de Ayllón in 1526. The early Spaniards may have named the river the Jordan (in honor of the Jordan River ). After suffering a defeat by the English and their allies during the Yamasee War in 1715–1716, the Santee were relocated. Many were shipped as slaves to the West Indies , opening the river for British settlement as part of
928-407: The state border, the Divide begins to separate the Youghiogheny River and Potomac River watersheds. In Maryland , the Divide runs significantly west of the Allegheny Front , following Backbone Mountain , and passing near the source of the North Branch Potomac River at the Fairfax Stone . The Divide then passes through a plateau of the Allegheny Mountains of West Virginia , passing between
960-431: The state of South Carolina. The Santee is formed in central South Carolina 25 miles (40 km) southeast of Columbia by the confluence of the rivers Wateree and Congaree . It flows southeast for 5 miles (8 km) before entering the northwest corner of Lake Marion, which stretches in a long wide arc to the southeast for approximately 30 miles (48 km) to Santee Dam. A navigable diversion canal first built during
992-411: The upcountry of central South Carolina and the port city Charleston, at the outlet of the Cooper River. The canal operated for 50 years before being made obsolete by the introduction of railroads. During the Great Depression , the state of South Carolina created the power utility Santee Cooper . The main source of electric power for the utility was a hydroelectric system inland from Charleston, built by
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1024-411: The western edge of the St. Johns River , meandering into the low country of Northern Florida until it reaches central Florida. The southern terminus of the Eastern Continental Divide is at the northern edge of the Kissimmee River watershed, part of the Lake Okeechobee drainage basin.. The elevation here is about 70 ft (21 m). South of here, the terrain consists of low swampland covered by
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