Continental Divide in the context of "Henrys Lake Mountains"

Billings is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Montana. The population was 117,116 at the 2020 census, while the Billings metropolitan area has an estimated 193,000 people. Located in the south-central portion of the state, it is the seat of Yellowstone County. Billings is the trade and distribution center for much of Montana east of the Continental Divide and has one of the largest trade areas in the United States. It is also the largest retail destination for much of the same area. The Billings Chamber of Commerce claims the area of commerce covers more than 125,000 square miles (320,000 km).

Billings was nicknamed the "Magic City" because of its rapid growth from its founding as a railroad town in March 1882. The nearby Crow and Cheyenne peoples call the city Ammalapáshkuua and É'êxováhtóva respectively, meaning 'where they cut wood', named as such because of a sawmill built in the area by early white settlers. The city has experienced rapid growth and maintains a strong economy. From 1969 to 2021, the Billings area population growth was 89%, compared to Montana's overall increase of 59%. With more hotel accommodations than any area within a five-state region, the city hosts a variety of conventions, concerts, sporting events, and other rallies. It provides services to the Bakken oil development 250 to 350 miles to the east, as well as the Heath Shale oil discovery north of Billings.

The San Luis Valley is a region in south-central Colorado with a small portion overlapping into New Mexico. The valley is approximately 122 miles (196 km) long and 74 miles (119 km) wide, making it the largest alpine valley in the world. It extends from the Continental Divide on the northwest rim into New Mexico on the south. It contains 6 counties and portions of 3 others. It is an extensive high-elevation depositional basin of approximately 8,000 square miles (21,000 km) with an average elevation of 7,664 feet (2,336 m) above sea level. The valley is a section of the Rio Grande Rift and is drained to the south by the Rio Grande, which rises in the San Juan Mountains to the west of the valley and flows south into New Mexico. The San Luis Valley has a cold desert climate but has substantial water resources from the Rio Grande and groundwater.

The San Luis Valley was ceded to the United States by Mexico following the Mexican–American War. Hispanic settlers began moving north and settling in the valley after the United States made a treaty with the Utes and established a fort in the early 1850s. Prior to the Mexican war the Spanish and Mexican governments had reserved the valley to the Utes. Later in the 19th century Anglo settlers began to settle in the valley and engaged in mining, ranching, and irrigated agriculture. Today the valley has a diverse Anglo and Hispanic population.

The Sawatch Range /səˈwɑːtʃ/ or Saguache Range is a high and extensive mountain range in central Colorado which includes eight of the twenty highest peaks in the Rocky Mountains, including Mount Elbert, at 14,440 feet (4,401 m) elevation, the highest peak in the Rockies.

The range is oriented along a northwest–southeast axis, extending roughly 80 miles (130 km) from 39°37′36″N 106°32′13″W / 39.62667°N 106.53694°W / 39.62667; -106.53694 in the north to 38°5′51″N 106°3′48″W / 38.09750°N 106.06333°W / 38.09750; -106.06333 in the south. The range contains fifteen peaks in excess of 14,000 feet (4,267 m), also known as fourteeners. The range forms a part of the Continental Divide, and its eastern side drains into the headwaters of the Arkansas River. The western side of the range feeds the headwaters of the Roaring Fork River, the Eagle River, and the Gunnison River, tributaries of the Colorado River.

The Red Desert is a high-altitude desert and sagebrush steppe located in the south-central portion of the U.S. state of Wyoming, comprising approximately 9,320 square miles (24,100 square kilometers). Among the natural features in the Red Desert region are the Great Divide Basin, a unique endorheic drainage basin formed by a division in the Continental Divide, and the Killpecker Sand Dunes, the largest living dune system in the United States. In the 19th century, the Oregon, California, and Mormon Trails crossed the Continental Divide at South Pass, just north of the Red Desert. Today, busy Interstate 80 bisects the desert's southern region while gas field roads cross the desert.

The majority of the Red Desert is public land managed by the Rock Springs and Rawlins field offices of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The region is rich in oil, natural gas, uranium, and coal. An estimated 84% of the Red Desert has been "industrialized" by oil and gas drilling or by mining operations and associated roads.

Western Montana is the western region of the U.S. state of Montana. The most restrictive definition limits western Montana only to the parts of the state west of the Continental Divide. Other common definitions add in the mountainous areas east of the divide including Beaverhead, Gallatin, Jefferson, Lewis and Clark, Madison, and Park Counties. The region is sometimes considered to be part of the Inland Northwest.

Pacific Creek is a stream in the U.S. state of Wyoming. The approximately 36-mile (58 km) long stream rises on the western side of South Pass and flows into the Little Sandy Creek near Farson, Wyoming. As the name implies, the stream starts just to the west of the Continental Divide and so is on the Pacific side of the divide. The waters from the stream eventually flow into the Pacific Ocean via the Green River and Colorado River. The stream is a notable landmark on the Oregon, California and Mormon emigration trails.

Rio Grande National Forest is a 1.86 million-acre (7,530 km) U.S. national forest located in southwestern Colorado. The forest encompasses the San Luis Valley, which is the world's largest agricultural alpine valley, as well as one of the world's largest high deserts located around mountains. The Rio Grande rises in the forest, and the Continental Divide runs along most of its western border. The forest lies in parts of nine counties. In descending order of land area within the forest they are Saguache, Mineral, Conejos, Rio Grande, Hinsdale, San Juan, Alamosa, Archuleta, and Custer counties. Forest headquarters are currently located in Del Norte, Colorado. There are local ranger district offices in Del Norte, La Jara, and Saguache.

The Western Slope is a colloquial term generally understood to describe the part of the state of Colorado west of the Continental Divide. Bodies of water west of the Divide flow toward the Pacific Ocean; water that falls and flows east of the Divide heads east toward the Gulf of Mexico. The Western Slope encompasses about 33% of the state, but has just 10% of the state's residents. The eastern part of the state, including the San Luis Valley and the Front Range, is the more populous portion of the state.

Cape Prince of Wales (Russian: Мыс Принца Уэльского; Inupiaq: Siuġaq, Sivuġaq) is the westernmost mainland point of the Americas. It was named in 1778 by Captain James Cook of the British Royal Navy, presumably for the Prince of Wales at the time, George Augustus Frederick. Discovered (for Europeans) in 1732, by an expedition led by a Russian military geodesist Mikhail Gvozdev in Sviatoi Gavriil (St. Gabriel); later, the cape was named by Vitus Bering for Gvozdev as Mys Gvozdeva (Cape Gvozdev). The Yupik name of the cape, published by Gavril Sarychev in 1826, was Nykhta. The current name was approved by a decision of the U.S. Board on Geographic Names in 1944.

Located on the Seward Peninsula of the U.S. state of Alaska near the settlement of Wales, Cape Prince of Wales is the terminus of the Continental Divide, marking the division between the Pacific and Arctic coasts, as well as marking the limit between the Bering Sea and the Chukchi Sea. It is the eastern boundary of the Bering Strait, 51 miles (82 km) opposite Cape Dezhnev, and adjacent to the Diomede Islands and Fairway Rock.