Historically this marked the southern limit of Rupert's Land, or Prince Rupert's Land, the vast territory which for 200 years from 1670–1870 was the exclusive commercial domain of the Hudson's Bay Company and consisted of the entire Hudson Bay Drainage Basin.
The Hudson Bay Drainage Basin covers over one-third of the area of Canada, as well as a small portions of the United States. The Laurentian Divide continues west into northwestern Ontario and crosses into northeastern Minnesota were it forms a three-way divide at the Hill of Three Waters where the watersheds of the St. Lawrence and the Mississippi River meet up with the Hudson Bay basin. The headpoints of the Hudson Bay watershed to the west are on the Continental Divide in the Rocky Mountains. At the Continental Divide the basin is bounded at Triple Divide Peak to the south, and the Snow Dome in the Columbia Icefield of Jasper National Park to the north. The northwestern boundary of the watershed is shared with the Mackenzie River drainage basin. To the east the watershed's outlet is the Davis Strait at the Hudson Strait's mouth between Resolution Island in the Qikiqtaaluk Region and Cape Chidley on the Labrador Peninsula. Although the drainage basin is considered part of the Arctic Watershed, Hudson Bay actually connects predominantly to the North Atlantic Ocean, though the waters of Hudson Strait.
You will have to do some research and some legwork to answer the following questions. Email your answers to the CO before you log your find. Please do not post answers on-line with your log.
1. Name the 2 Canadian territories, 5 provinces and 4 American states that contribute flow to the Hudson Bay Drainage Basin.>
2. What is the approximate area of the Hudson Bay Drainage Basin?
3. Name three (3) major river systems that flow north into Hudson and James Bay.
4. What is the elevation posted on the sign? How does your GPS reading compare to the sign? Is this the highest elevation in the Province of Ontario?
5. Hike or drive to each of the two reference points on the highway located about 1 km north and 1 km south of the divide and obtain additional elevation readings at each of these waypoints. Using your value measured next to the sign, calculate the grade (slope in % or as a ratio) for both directions from the divide. How do these grades compare to the average simple (as the crow flies) grade from the divide north to James Bay (about 330 km away) and southeast to the St Lawrence (about 720 km away).
6. Post a photo (optional) of yourself, your group or a signature item at the sign with your log.