Yellowhead Pass was 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 1870's. Although rejected by the C.P.R., the route was later used by the Grand Trunk Pacific and the Canadian Northern Pacific, and the union of these helped form the CN. Today's highway traces the route of this historic pathway through the Rockies.