Kicking Horse Pass
| Kicking Horse Pass | |||
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 The Kicking Horse Pass, painting by Lucius Richard O'Brien |
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| Compass direction | west | east | |
| Pass height | 1627 m | ||
| province | British Columbia ( Canada ) | Alberta | |
| Watershed | Kicking Horse River → Columbia River | Bow River → South Saskatchewan River → Saskatchewan River → Nelson River | |
| Valley locations | Field | Lake Louise | |
| expansion |
Trans-Canada Highway , Canadian Pacific Railway |
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| Mountains | Canadian Rockies | ||
| map | |||
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| Coordinates | 51 ° 27 '8 " N , 116 ° 17' 1" W | ||
The Kicking Horse Pass ( Eng. "Pass of the kicking horse") is a mountain pass in the Canadian Rocky Mountains . It is located at an altitude of 1,627 meters on the border between the provinces of British Columbia and Alberta and between Yoho National Park and Banff National Park , and the continental divide runs over the pass. The short creek Divide Creek splits on the southern slope of Kicking Horse Pass in Canada . The west arm drains over the Kicking Horse River and Columbia River into the Pacific, the east arm over Bow River and finally the Nelson River into Hudson Bay . Since 1885, Canada's first transcontinental railroad has run over the pass .
An expedition led by John Palliser was the first European to discover the pass in 1858. The name of the pass goes back to the nearby Kicking Horse River , where a member of the expedition, the naturalist, geologist and surgeon James Hector , was kicked off his horse. In 1881 the Canadian Pacific Railway decided to build the railway line over the Kicking Horse Pass, although the terrain was much less favorable than a route over the Yellowhead Pass . The shorter route and the closer location to the border with the USA made the difference in favor of the Kicking Horse Pass.
The original route of the Canadian Pacific Railway ran between the top of the pass and the village of Field over the so-called "Big Hill". This line had a gradient of 4.5%, making it the steepest main rail line in all of North America . Because of numerous accidents and the costly use of additional locomotives, the Canadian Pacific built the Spiral Tunnels , which opened in 1909 and replaced the direct route. The route has become twelve kilometers longer, but the gradient has been reduced to a more tolerable 2.2%.
In 1962 the Trans-Canada Highway was opened, which essentially follows the route of the original railway line.
Because of its importance in the construction of the transcontinental railroad, the pass was declared a National Historic Site of Canada on May 27, 1971 by the Canadian government .
Web links
- Parks Canada: Kicking Horse Pass National Historic Site (English)
- Kicking Horse Pass ( English, French ) In: The Canadian Encyclopedia .
Individual evidence
- ^ Kicking Horse River . Canadian Geographical Names Database, Ottawa - Government of British Columbia , accessed July 8, 2012 .
- ^ Kicking Horse Pass National Historic Site of Canada. In: Canadian Register of Historic Places. Retrieved October 17, 2013 .
Canada: Pine Pass | Yellowhead Pass | Kicking Horse Pass | Crowsnest Pass
USA: Mary's Passport | Mullan Pass | Mullan Tunnel Elk Park Pass | Homestake Pass | Pipestone Pass | Pipestone Pass Tunnel | Deer Lodge Pass | Bannock Pass | Monida Pass | Reas Pass | South Pass | Robinson | Hadsell | Rollins Pass | Moffat tunnel | Jones Pass | Boreas Pass | Fremont Pass | Tennessee Pass | Tennessee Pass Tunnel | Hagerman Pass | Hagerman Tunnel | Busk-Ivanhoe Tunnel | Alpine tunnel | Marshall Pass | Azotea | Hillcrest | Campbell Pass | Tyrone | Vilnius | Hachita | Vista | Antelope