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42-600: 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

84-812: A U.S. Army Corps of Engineers project providing navigation on the Tombigbee River and a link to the Port of Mobile , enters the Tennessee River near the Tennessee-Alabama-Mississippi boundary. This waterway reduces the navigation distance from Tennessee, north Alabama, and northern Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico by hundreds of miles. The final part of the Tennessee's run is north through western Kentucky , where it separates

126-860: 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

168-934: 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

210-546: A major highway for riverboats through the South, and today they are frequently used along the river. Major ports include Guntersville, Chattanooga , Decatur , Yellow Creek, and Muscle Shoals . This river has contributed greatly to the economic and industrial development of the Tennessee Valley as a whole. The economies of cities such as Decatur and Chattanooga would not be as dynamic as they are today, were it not for

252-608: 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,

294-737: 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

336-606: A shorter trip for river traffic going from the Tennessee to most of the Ohio River, and for traffic going down the Cumberland River toward Tennessee. The Tennessee River and its tributaries host some 102 species of mussel . Native Americans ate freshwater mussels. Potters of the Mississippian culture used crushed mussel shell mixed into clay to make their pottery stronger. A "pearl" button industry

378-423: Is projected to have a new lock built, but it has been delayed due to a lack of funding. The river not only has many economic functions, such as the boat building industry and transportation, but it also provides water and natural resources to those who live near the river. Many of the major ports on the river are connected to a settlement that was started because of its proximity to the river. On October 15, 2022,

420-806: 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

462-529: 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

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504-680: 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

546-746: 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

588-800: The Hudson Bay drainage basin . Tennessee River The Tennessee River is the largest tributary of the Ohio River . It is approximately 652 miles (1,049 km) long and is located in the southeastern United States in the Tennessee Valley . The river was once popularly known as the Cherokee River, among other names, as the Cherokee people had their homelands along its banks, especially in what are now East Tennessee and northern Alabama . Additionally, its tributary,

630-554: The Huntsville and Decatur area before reaching the Muscle Shoals area, and eventually forms a small part of the state's border with Mississippi , before returning to Tennessee. The river misses Georgia by about 250 feet (76 m). The Tennessee River's route northerly through Tennessee defines the boundary between two of Tennessee's Grand Divisions : Middle and West Tennessee . The Tennessee–Tombigbee Waterway ,

672-548: The Jackson Purchase from the rest of the state. It flows into the Ohio River at Paducah, Kentucky . The river valley was once home to several Native American tribes. At Painted Bluff , in northeast Alabama, painted glyphs dating to ca. 1400 A.D. have been discovered among cliffs overlooking the river. The first major battles of the American Civil War occurred along the river in 1862. The commander in

714-613: The Little Tennessee River , flows into it from Western North Carolina and northeastern Georgia, where the river also was bordered by numerous Cherokee towns. Its current name is derived from the Cherokee town, Tanasi , which was located on the Tennessee side of the Appalachian Mountains. The river appears on French maps from the late 17th century with the names "Caquinampo" or "Kasqui." Maps from

756-573: 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

798-793: The Tennessee Bar Journal , a publication of the Tennessee Bar Association. In 2008, as a result of a serious drought and resulting water shortage, the Georgia General Assembly passed a resolution directing the governor to pursue its claim in the United States Supreme Court . According to a story aired on WTVC-TV in Chattanooga on March 14, 2008, a local attorney familiar with case law on border disputes, said

840-660: 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

882-561: 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

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924-497: The Supreme Court to settle the issue once and for all. The Atlantic Wire , in commenting on Georgia's actions stated: "The Great Georgia-Tennessee Border War of 2013 Is Upon Us Historians, take note: On this day, which is not a day in 1732, a boundary dispute between two Southern states took a turn for the wet. In a two-page resolution passed overwhelmingly by the state senate, Georgia declared that it, not its neighbor to

966-429: The Tennessee River. Many companies still rely on the river as a means of transportation for their materials. In Chattanooga, for example, steel is exported on boats, as it is much more efficient than moving it on land. In addition, locks along the Tennessee River waterway provide passage between reservoirs for more than 13,000 recreational craft each year. The Chickamauga Dam , located just upstream from Chattanooga,

1008-430: The U.S. Supreme Court generally will maintain the original borders between states and avoid stepping into border disputes, preferring the parties work out their differences. The Chattanooga Times Free Press reported on March 25, 2013, that Georgia senators approved House Resolution 4 stating that if Tennessee declines to settle with them, the dispute will be given to the state attorney general, to take Tennessee before

1050-523: The University of Tennessee Volunteers football team defeated the University of Alabama Crimson Tide 52–49 at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tennessee, on a game-winning field goal by Chase McGrath as time expired. In celebration of this victory, the fans stormed the field, tore down the goalposts, and threw them into the Tennessee River after an impromptu parade in which fans carried the goalposts around

1092-467: The actual border line was set on the ground approximately one mile south, thus placing the disputed portion of the river entirely in Tennessee. Georgia made several unsuccessful attempts to correct what Georgia felt was an erroneous survey line "in the 1890s, 1905, 1915, 1922, 1941, 1947 and 1971 to 'resolve' the dispute", according to C. Crews Townsend, Joseph McCoin, Robert F. Parsley, Alison Martin and Zachary H. Greene, in their May 12, 2008, article for

1134-582: The beginning of the Tennessee River. Through much of the 19th century, the Tennessee River was considered to start at the mouth of Clinch River (at Kingston ). An 1889 declaration by the Tennessee General Assembly designated Kingsport (on the Holston River ) as the start of the Tennessee, but the following year a federal law was enacted that finally fixed the start of the river at its current location. At various points since

1176-799: 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

1218-722: The city of Knoxville. The river has been dammed numerous times since the 1930s by Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) projects. The construction of TVA's Kentucky Dam on the Tennessee River and the Corps of Engineers' Barkley Dam on the Cumberland River led to the development of associated lakes, and the creation of an area called the Land Between the Lakes . A navigation canal located at Grand Rivers, Kentucky , links Kentucky Lake and Lake Barkley . The canal allows for

1260-617: 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

1302-660: The early 18th century call it "Cussate," " Hogohegee ," "Callamaco," and "Acanseapi." A 1755 British map showed the Tennessee River as the "River of the Cherakees." By the late 18th century, it had come to be called "Tennessee," a name derived from the Cherokee village named Tanasi . The Tennessee River is formed at the confluence of the Holston and French Broad rivers in present-day Knoxville, Tennessee . From Knoxville, it flows southwest through East Tennessee into Chattanooga before crossing into Alabama . It travels through

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1344-438: The early 19th century, Georgia has disputed its northern border with Tennessee. In 1796, when Tennessee was admitted to the Union, the border was originally defined by United States Congress as located on the 35th parallel, thereby ensuring that at least a portion of the river would be located within Georgia. As a result of an erroneously conducted survey in 1818 (ratified by the Tennessee legislature, but not Georgia), however,

1386-427: 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

1428-522: 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

1470-411: 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

1512-413: The north, controls part of the Tennessee River at Nickajack . Georgia doesn't want Nickajack. It wants that water.". The Tennessee River is an important part of the Great Loop , the recreational circumnavigation of Eastern North America by water. The main channel is accessible to recreational watercraft at over 200 public access points along the river's course. The Tennessee River has historically been

1554-458: 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

1596-510: 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;

1638-407: 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

1680-411: 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

1722-413: The western theater, General Henry Halleck , considered the Tennessee River to be more significant than the Mississippi. The Tennessee River begins at mile post 652, where the French Broad River meets the Holston River, but historically there were several different definitions of its starting point. In the late 18th century, the mouth of the Little Tennessee River (at Lenoir City ) was considered to be

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1764-405: Was established in the Tennessee Valley beginning in 1887, producing buttons from the abundant mussel shells. Button production ceased after World War II when plastics replaced mother-of-pearl as a button material. Mussel populations have declined drastically due to dam construction, water pollution, and invasive species . Tributaries and sub-tributaries are listed hierarchically in order from

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