24/7 Trauma and Biohazard Cleanup in Continental Divide, NM

Continental Divide is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in central McKinley County, New Mexico.

The community sits at Campbell Pass, a low point on the Continental Divide of the Americas, along Interstate 40 about 25 miles east-southeast of Gallup, the county seat.

Continental Divide was first listed as a census-designated place for the 2020 census, which counted 187 residents.

The 2020 census recorded 70 households in the CDP, and the median age was 38.9 years.

Just over half of the CDP's 2020 residents, 52.9 percent, identified as American Indian or Alaska Native alone, reflecting the community's proximity to the Navajo Nation.

At Campbell Pass, at more than 7,200 feet (markers at the site give about 7,263 feet), the highway crossing is the highest point on historic U.S. Route 66.

The site was known over the years as Campbell Pass, Gonzales, and Summit before the name Continental Divide became official with the local post office.

Continental Divide has its own post office, opened in 1949, with ZIP code 87312.

The railroad chose this low pass over the divide in 1880 for its line between Albuquerque and Southern California, and the route remains one of the principal transcontinental routes of the BNSF Railway.

Rain falling west of the divide at the community drains toward the South Fork of the Puerco River and the Little Colorado River, while water on the east side drains through Mitchell Draw toward the Rio San Jose and the Rio Grande.