Yellowhead Pass

Yellowhead Pass, elev 1133 m, crosses the continental divide between Alberta and BC, 25 km W of Jasper. The Miette R flows E from the pass to meet the Athabasca R at Jasper. Yellowhead Lk, on the W side, empties into the Fraser River. Yellowhead Pass was first called Leather Pass, because the HBC obtained moose and caribou hides through the pass 1826-28; it was supposedly later named for a blond Iroquois trapper, Pierre Bostonais, nicknamed "Tête Jaune," who hunted and trapped in the area. It provided a route to the Cariboo goldfields 1862. It was originally proposed by Sandford Fleming as the route for the CPR, but was rejected. However, early this century both Grand Trunk Pacific and Canadian Northern RY installed trackage over the pass - in some places side by side. Today the CNR and Yellowhead Hwy traverse the pass, which in 1985 was officially designated a Canadian historic site.