More about Rivers

In the last posting we looked at how the side-by-side existence of Canada and the United States was shaped by two North American river systems: the St. Lawrence-Ottawa which opened the continent and First Nations inland to New France, and the Hudson-Mohawk that is shorter and kept New England and other English speaking colonists near the coast.



When Britain took Quebec, eliminating the French threat to her North American colonies, they broke away to become the United States. British North America now centered on New France!
Swelled by English speaking settlers from the US, she evolved into Canada.

The trading empires centered on the Hudson and Saint Lawrence became the bases of parallel expansion west: by trails, waterways, and eventually, rails to the Pacific coast.



Many North America look at our continent as a single entity geographically, that runs on north-south lines. They see the central plain that runs from Texas to the low arctic, and the Cordillera, the western mountains that run from Alaska to the tip of South America. This leads to what seems an obvious question:

If the geography of the continent runs north-south as does much of our trade, why are there still two countries that bisect the continent from East to West? This small view takes in only half the picture. The reality is more complex.

These two features that run the length of the continent are on its western half: the last area to be penetrated and settled by whites. On the eastern half, where Europeans first landed, the Hudson and the Saint Lawrence and other rivers were a determining force.

These are part of geographic formations that do not run the length of the continent: the Saint Lawrence Lowlands and Canadian Shield that lie mostly in Canadian territory, and the Appalachian and Ozark regions that lie mostly—but not entirely—in the US.

Between the eastern third of two countries lies the source of the St. Lawrence: the Great Lakes, an immense divider at the bottom of the Canadian Shield. So geography is a factor in the differences between us—

Depending where you live: It’s no accident the One Continent view is strongest on the plain where the horizon is endless and First Nations moved freely across the 49th parallel.

In the Far West the mountains have a “braiding” influence on rivers and people rather than a north-south “streaming” one. There are valleys that run north-south between mountain ranges, crossing the border. But the rivers that run between the ranges take the first opportunity to cut through them—east-west again—to the Pacific.