Howse Pass

51°48′N 116°45′W / 51.800°N 116.750°W / 51.800; -116.750Official nameHowse Pass National Historic Site of CanadaDesignated1978

Howse Pass (el. 1,539 m or 5,049 ft) is a pass through the Rocky Mountains in Canada. The pass is located in Banff National Park, between Mount Conway and Howse Peak. From here waters flow east via Conway Creek, Howse River, North Saskatchewan River to Lake Winnipeg and Hudson Bay. To the west it drains by the Blaeberry River to the Columbia River and on to the Pacific Ocean.

The pass was used by First Nations people such as the Kootenay to the west and Peigan to the east. In 1806 two men from Rocky Mountain House cut a rough road from the Howse River toward the pass. In June 1807 David Thompson crossed it to the Columbia River. It was named for Joseph Howse, a Hudson's Bay Company factor who crossed it later, in 1809. The pass was not much used, Athabasca Pass being preferred.

Howse Pass is lower than many other passes in this range and it was considered for the Canadian Pacific's route, but Kicking Horse Pass was chosen instead. There has been some talk of building a road through the pass from Saskatchewan River Crossing to Golden, British Columbia, but this would involve cutting through the national park.

The pass was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1978.^[1]

See also

• List of Rocky Mountain passes on the continental divide

References

External links

RangesMountainsPassesGlaciersRiversPeoplesParks and protected areas

International	Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks World Heritage Site Waterton Biosphere Reserve Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park
National	Parks Banff Jasper Kootenay Yoho Waterton Lakes Historic Sites Jasper House Jasper Park Information Centre Yellowhead Pass Athabasca Pass Howse Pass Kootenae House Kicking Horse Pass Skoki Ski Lodge Twin Falls Tea House Abbot Pass Refuge Cabin Cave and Basin Banff Park Museum Sulphur Mountain Cosmic Ray Station First Oil Well in Western Canada
Provincial (AB)	Parks Bow Valley Bragg Creek Elbow-Sheep Ghost River Kananaskis Peter Lougheed Sheep River Siffleur Spray Valley White Goat Willmore Historic Sites Frank Slide
Provincial (BC)	Akamina-Kishinena Close To The Edge Dune Za Keyih (Frog-Gataga) Elk Lakes Graham-Laurier Hamber Height of the Rockies Hole-in-the-Wall Kakwa Kikomun Creek Kwadacha Mount Assiniboine Mount Fernie Mount Robson Muncho Lake Northern Rocky Mountains Pine Le Moray Stone Mountain Muskwa-Kechika

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