Continental Divide Monument

Continental Divide Monument. . This marker is erected on the height of land which divides North America into vast drainage areas. The land on your left drains to the Gulf of Mexico and the land on your right drains to Hudson Bay. For one and one-half centuries this divide also delineated the realms of the nations seeking dominion over the continent's immeasurable resources., The west side of town was within "Rupert's Land" granted by King Charles II in 1672 to "governours and adventurers trading in Hudsons Baye." In 1818 the lands drained by the Red River of the North which lie south of the forty-ninth parallel were relinquished by the British., The east side of town lies within Louisiana Territory, alternately under the rule of Spanish and French monarchs from the sixteenth century until 1803, when ceded to the United States by Napoleon., Though fate denied the "manifest destiny" of political union, the people of North America are blessed by an unparallelled union of spirit and ideology, which as been fueled and nurtured by immigrants from all corners of this world., The flags of discovery of England, France and Spain together with the American flag of expansion fly over this marker on ceremonial occasions and to greet visitors to New York Mills. The flags symbolize the spirit of enterprise and freedom of the explorer and settler and now instilled in the hearts of all North Americans.