Divide is a rural community in

Silver Bow County Silver Bow County is a county in the U.S. state Montana. As of the 2020 census, the population was 35,133. Its county seat is Butte. In 1977, the city and county governments consolidated to form the single entity of Butte-Silver Bow. Additional ...

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columb ...

, United States. It is administered as part of

Butte __NOTOC__ In geomorphology, a butte () is an isolated hill with steep, often vertical sides and a small, relatively flat top; buttes are smaller landforms than mesas, plateaus, and tablelands. The word ''butte'' comes from a French word me ...

History

The community's name is based on its proximity to the Continental Divide. As a station on the

Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Paci ...

, Divide served as a distribution and stock shipping point for ranchers in the Big Hole Valley.

Geography

Divide is located in the valley of the

Big Hole River The Big Hole River is a tributary of the Jefferson River, approximately long, in Beaverhead County, in southwestern Montana, United States. It is the last habitat in the contiguous United States for native fluvial Arctic grayling and is ...

surrounded by Montana's Pioneer Mountains. The Big Hole River and its creek tributaries provide irrigation for agriculture as well as habitat for several species of trout which support a recreational fishery. Divide is crossed by

Interstate 15 Interstate 15 (I-15) is a major Interstate Highway in the western United States, running through Southern California and the Intermountain West. I-15 begins near the Mexican border in San Diego County and stretches north to Alberta, Cana ...

and Montana State Highways 43 and 91, as well as the

, although it is no longer served by a station. The population in 2010 was 221 people.

Climate

According to the

Köppen Climate Classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

system, Divide has a

semi-arid climate A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of sem ...

, abbreviated "BSk" on climate maps.

Literary Association

Divide is an important setting for

Reif Larsen Reif Larsen (born 1980) is an American author, known for '' The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet'', for which '' Vanity Fair'' claimed Larsen received just under a million dollars as an advance from Penguin Press following a bidding war between ten ...

's novel '' The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet''. It is the home of the central character and the beginning of his hobo railroad journey across the United States. The community's location on the continental divide serves as a major piece of symbolism in the novel.Fran Arrieta-Walden, "Review: The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet" ''Oregon Books''
/ref>

References

"Divide", Montana Official Travel Site
*''Cheney's Names on the Face of Montana'', Mountain Press Publishing Company Populated places in Silver Bow County, Montana Neighborhoods in Montana {{SilverBowCountyMT-geo-stub