Mount Robson Park on Hwy 16
Named after 'Tete Jaune', a blond fur trader at Jasper House, this low pass was favoured by Sandford Fleming in his railway surveys of the 1870s. Rejected by the CPR, the route was later used by the Grand Trunk Pacific and the Canadian Northern Pacific; the union of these helped form the CN. Today’s highway traces the route of this historic pathway through the Rockies.
Yellowhead Pass is thought to have been named after Pierre Hatsinaton, a fair-haired Iroquois, nicknamed Tete Jaune (yellow head), who guided a Hudson's Bay Co. group from St. Mary's, Peace River, to the Fraser River, where he left some furs in cache (a hiding place) at the western end of the pass. It was also known to the Hudson's Bay Company as the Leather Pass because the compnay posts in New Caledonia (now northern BC) used this route to bring in dressed moose skins with which they made their moccasins. Due to the rough mountain terrain, men used as many as eight pair of moccasins per year.
The Overlanders of 1862 struggled through this pass on their historic trek to the Barkerville goldfields. From this area, their greatest hardships began, ending in death and starvation for a good many of them as they reached their destination at Kamloops on the Thompson River.
In 1872, the pass was explored by Sir Sanford Fleming. This work was undertaken on behalf of the Canadian Pacific Railway who hoped to use this route for a new line to the Pacific Coast. In spite of Fleming's recommendations that Yellowhead had great advantages over other passes, it was discounted in favor of Kicking Horse Pass.
In 1909, the Grand Trunk Pacific used Yellowhead Pass to push a second railway to the Pacific Coast at Prince Rupert, which was later taken over by the federal government as a result of financial difficulties and became part of the present Canadian National Railway.
