Wikipedia - Continental Divide of the Americas
The Continental Divide of the Americas is the name given to the principal, and largely mountainous, hydrological divide of the Americas that separates the watersheds that drain into the Pacific Ocean from those river systems that drain into the Atlantic Ocean and along the northernmost reaches of the Divide, those river systems that drain into the Arctic Ocean.
Triple Divide Peak in Glacier National Park, Montana, is the point at which two of the principal continental divides in North America converge, the Great Divide and the Northern or Laurentian Divide. From this point, waters flow to the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean via the Gulf of Mexico, and the Arctic Ocean via Hudson Bay. Most geographers, geologists, meteorologists, and oceanographers generally consider this point to be the hydrological apex of North America. This is the only place on earth where two oceanic divides meet, i.e., where waters from a single point area feed into three different oceans.
Another triple divide occurs in Canada on a prominent peak directly on the border between Alberta and British Columbia, called Snow Dome because the Columbia Icefield completely covers the summit. From this peak, water flows into the Pacific Ocean via the Columbia River system; the Arctic Ocean via the Athabasca River and MacKenzie River systems; and Hudson Bay via the North Saskatchewan River system. Canadians generally consider Snow Dome to be the hydrological apex of North America because they consider Hudson Bay to be an extension of the Atlantic Ocean, and also because Snow Dome is 1,000 metres higher than Triple Divide Peak and receives considerably more precipitation.
I love that this Wikipedia article pits “most geographers, geologists, meteorologists, and oceanographers” against ”Canadians”.
