CNHS - The Yellow Head Pass - Highway 16, Jasper, Alberta
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oiseau_ca
N 52° 52.929 W 118° 26.969
11U E 402462 N 5860144
a bronze plaque commemorating a historic site located 9 km west of Jasper on Highway 16, Jasper National Park of Canada, Alberta, Canada
Waymark Code: WMPZ2Z
Location: Alberta, Canada
Date Posted: 11/14/2015
Views: 7
This bronze plaque commemorating a historic site is located some 9 km west of Jasper on Highway 16, Jasper National Park of Canada, Alberta, Canada
The Yellowhead Pass is a mountain pass across the Continental Divide of the Americas in the Canadian Rockies. It is located on the provincial boundary between the Canadian provinces of Alberta and British Columbia, and lies within Jasper National Park and Mount Robson Provincial Park.
Topological map of the proposed, never-built Canadian Pacific Railway line from East Selkirk to Kamloops, passing through the Yellowhead Pass.
Due to its modest elevation of 1,131 m (3,711 ft) and its gradual approaches, the pass was recommended by Sir Sandford Fleming as a route across the Rocky Mountains for the planned Canadian Pacific Railway. This proposal was rejected in favour of a more direct and southerly route through the more difficult Kicking Horse Pass, opened in 1886. However, both the Grand Trunk Pacific and Canadian Northern Railways used the Yellowhead Pass for their main lines built circa 1910–1913, and the main line of their successor, the Canadian National Railway, still follows the route. Via Rail's premier passenger train, the Canadian, uses the CN tracks as does the Jasper – Prince Rupert train and the Jasper section of the Rocky Mountaineer. The pass is now also traversed by the Yellowhead Highway.
It is believed that the pass was named for Pierre Bostonais (nicknamed Tête Jaune, French for "yellow head", because of his blond hair), an Iroquois-Métis trapper employed as a guide by the Hudson's Bay Company. Bostonais led one of the first expeditions for the company to what is now the interior of B.C. through the pass in 1820.
Source: Wikipedia
Yellowhead Pass National Historic Site of Canada plaque states:
This pass was used for brief periods from the mid-1820s to the early 1850s by the Hudson's Bay Company, principally to transport leather, especially moosehides, from the Saskatchewan District to its posts in New Caledonia. It derives its name from Pierre Bostonais, called 'Tête Jaune', an Iroquois freeman active here in the early 19th century. Originally chosen by Sandford Fleming for the CPR, the Yellowhead Pass eventually became part of the Grand Trunk Pacific and Canadian Northern Routes (now the CNR), and later still, a major highway crossing the Rocky Mountains.
Source: NHSC site
Classification: National Historic Site
Province or Territory: British Columbia
Location - City name/Town name: Alberta/British Columbia border, Jasper & Mount Robson Parks
Link to Parks Canada entry (must be on www.pc.gc.ca): [Web Link]
Link to HistoricPlaces.ca: [Web Link]
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