This is a look at the railroad lines that crossed the Continental Divide in North America.
I am focusing on the Divide that separates the drainage towards the Pacific Ocean to the west from the drainage to the Atlantic and Arctic Oceans to the east and north. The western side also includes The Great Basin, much of which drains into Great Salt Lake, and the Bering Sea. The eastern slope also drains into the Caribbean, the Gulf of Mexico and Hudson Bay. This Divide reaches from the Panama Canal to the Bering
Strait in Alaska. Wikipedia has an informative article on the Continental Divide.
In the “Lower 48 States”, the Divide runs through Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico, and also forms part of Idaho’s eastern border.
There has never been a railroad line built across the Divide in Alaska. The Alaska Railroad passes through Broad Pass at an elevation of 2,337’, about 200 miles north
of Anchorage. The southern slope of Broad Pass drains through the Susitna River to
the Pacific, while the northern slope drains through the Nemana and Yukon Rivers into the Bering Sea, south of the Bering Strait.
I believe there were 31 different crossings, and there was also a long mining railroad tunnel under the Divide as well. Ten of these 31 crossings are still in use, and 21 have been abandoned or are embargoed. (They are shown in blue.)
When you do a project, you dive right in. I would like to nominate you as the trainsforum Reference Director. I am very appreciative of all the work you do to research all this stuff.
Quick question…I clicked onto Marias Pass. What is that loop connected to the track? Is that for turning the locomotives?
Thanks Ed.
It must be for turning helpers, and probably snowfighting equipment as well. You can see there was a wye there before the loop was built, and I’d guess the loop was put in so the snowplows would not have to back up one of the legs of the wye.
You’re, right. Somehow I was under the mistaken impression that the Yukon River was east of the Rockies. I was thinking of the Mackenzie River and its tributaries.
I don’t think I’d enjoy that Dan. Northern Minnesota can be difficult. Something called M&RR went north from Deer River in 1928 and crossed into the Bowstring Lake watershed on two lines, but I couldn’t find out where that lake drained. You and John could get together…
A Question. I went through Lordsburg on the way to Phoenix last year and on the way home went through Clifton. I stopped at the Chamber of Commerce in the old depot in Clifton and the lady said there was a daily train from Lordsburg. Outside the depot were two UP maintence of way trucks. My question - Is the line from Lordsburg to Clifton a UP branch line or is it a line of The Arizonua and New Mexico Railway? Does anyone know?
Nanimo- One thing you might not know about the Creston Pass here in Wyoming is that it actually crosses the divide twice in the state. [:P] The Google map that you show is near the eastern part, It croses it again about 40 miles east of Rock Springs but at a bit lower altitude, somewhere near 7000 feet Inside that basin there is almost literally NO water, and the water tabe is down about 400’ . The divide splits just south of South Pass and branches out and creates a basin. it cones back together just north of the State line. Wyoming is the only place where while traveling you cna cross the continental Divide twice without doubling back across it. The eas edge of it was created by the Rawlins uplift and the western side made by the Rock Springs uplift. The early pioneers tried to go across it but discovered the lack of water so went north to South Pass. The area is all rich in Oil and Coal so although the area is desolate, you see lots of people out there. There are some great rock formations and fossils in this area too.
I was looking at that, but decided to go with Creston as it is about 200’ higher than either enterance to the Great Divide Basin. I don’t disagree with you.
Yes, the Rock Springs uplift is responsible for the high that creates the modern continental divide between rock springs and rawlins wyoming. There is, however, some debate as to whether the uplift itself caused the location of the divide, or that the diversion of the Green River did. Some geologists have supposed that the Green River once flowed eastward into the north platte near rawlins, and that it was “captured” by another stream near green river, WY about 600,000 years ago. That event would have diverted the headwaters of the Green River into the Colorado river system rather than the Mississippi river system. Prior to this hypothesized “capture”, the continental divide would have been the wyoming range on the Wyoming/Idaho border and the uinta range on the utah/wyoming border. All of wyoming would have drained east to the mississippi river. This hypothesis is championed by Wallace Hanson in various publications and Wilmot Bradley in 1936. There is another geolgist at the community college in rock springs who disagrees with this capture. He and some students have done some extensive mapping of the Green River near Green River, WY.
Nachoman, You are absolutly correct, all evidence does support that the Green River did at one point in time, flow east. The community college professor is Charlie Love, and he is my professor for, you guessed it, Geology. However, there is no evidence to support that there wasnt another river that could have been there. Also the divide could have bery well moved at one point in time from the Wyoming range to its current location along the Rock Springs uplift therefore moving it to its present location.
An excellent list and my hat’s off to your effort and altruisum. Could I suggest you refine it to say that you’re covering only the Continental Divide that separates waters flowing between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, since there’s no accepted definition of The Continental Divide. My friends at the ARR think that Broad Pass crosses a Continental Divide (between the Pacific Ocean and the Bering Sea), and who am I to say they are wrong.
I would also list both divides of the Overland Route in Wyoming.
