page_title: Rogers Pass (British Columbia)
section_title: Discovery of the pass
hierarchical_section_title: Rogers Pass (British Columbia) / Railway / Discovery of the pass
caption_attribution_description: English: Photograph, Rogers Pass and Mount Carroll on the C.P.R., BC, 1887, William McFarlane Notman, Silver salts, frosting on glass - Gelatin dry plate process - 20 x 25 cm Français&#160;: Photographie, Col Rogers et mont Carroll sur la route du C. P., C-B., 1887, William McFarlane Notman, Plaque sèche à la gélatine, 20 x 25 cm
context_page_description: Rogers Pass is a high mountain pass through the Selkirk Mountains of British Columbia, but the term also includes the approaches used by the Canadian Pacific Railway and the Trans-Canada Highway. In the heart of Glacier National Park, this tourism destination since 1886 is a National Historic Site.
context_section_description: While the transcontinental advanced across the prairies, the railway sought a way over the unexplored Selkirks. In April 1881, CP offered Major A.B. Rogers naming rights and a $5,000 bonus to locate a pass. Walter Moberly had discovered Eagle Pass just to the west, and based on suggestions in Moberly's reports, Rogers started out from what is now Revelstoke, up the Illecillewaet River. Running out of food, the party almost reached the summit but turned back feeling reasonably confident that a pass existed. Returning in 1882 from the east, Rogers reached the point where he had stopped the previous season, confirming the pass location. Rogers refused to cash the $5,000 cheque, and instead framed it upon his wall until CP General Manager William Cornelius Van Horne offered him a gold watch as an incentive to cash it. Folklore has generated many later variations of this story.
  As is the case with other passes in BC, Rogers' discovery was a rediscovery. Gleaning knowledge from First Nations, Europeans had crossed the pass two decades earlier. Such Shuswap guides formed party of Rogers' party. Moberly attributed the European discovery as 1866 by Albert Perry.
caption: Mt. Macdonald (formerly Mt. Carroll), eastern slope, northeast from summit, 1887.
  Water tower and 2nd station in centre.
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