A pass on the Continental Divide linking east-flowing Howse/Conway and North Saskatchewan waters with the west-flowing Blaeberry and Columbia system. Howse Pass was used by Kootenay and Peigan people long before European survey; David Thompson crossed it to the Columbia in 1807. It was named for Hudson’s Bay Company trader Joseph Howse, who used it in 1809.

Hector’s survey. Sir James Hector of the Palliser Expedition (1857–1860) re-traversed Howse Pass in 1859, ascending the North Saskatchewan to the Howse River, climbing toward the Freshfield Glacier region, and descending the Blaeberry to the Columbia. His role was not to “discover” the pass but to survey it systematically for the British government’s mapping and railway-route assessment. The CPR ultimately chose Kicking Horse Pass instead.

Howse Pass lies west of Saskatchewan River Crossing along the Icefields Parkway corridor. Banff National Park and the Palliser reports drew on Hector’s observations of the pass and its Indigenous use.