Laurentian Divide

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Continental divides in North America. The Laurentian Divide is in green.

The Laurentian Divide or Northern Divide runs along the crests of hills dividing the direction of water flow in the Northern Midwest of the United States and Southern/Eastern Canada. All water north will eventually make its way to Hudson Bay in Canada. Water south will go into the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico or east via the St. Lawrence River and other streams to the Atlantic Ocean.

The divide intersects with the Continental Divide at Triple Divide Peak in Glacier National Park (US) in Montana.

The divide stretches from the Labrador Sea in Canada where it is the formal dividing line between the waters of the Hudson Bay and the Arctic Ocean. It forms the border between Quebec and Labrador and Newfoundland. As it crosses Canada, water flows north into the Hudson Bay or south into the Great Lakes. It crosses into the United States in extreme northeast Minnesota where it follows the Mesabi Range and clips the extreme northeast corner of South Dakota before going back into Canada at the extreme northwest corner of North Dakota. Rivers north of the divide including most notably the Red River of the North flow north while rivers south flow into the Missouri River drainage. The divide in this region formed the northern boundary of the Louisiana Purchase. It drops back into the United States at Glacier National Park.