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Read featured articles from destinations along the Yellowhead

Manitoba
Celebrate the distinct culture, amazing scenery and brilliant yellow sunflower fields.

Saskatchewan
The sky’s the limit, with creative literary giants and rodeo greats.

Alberta
Renowned for its diverse culture, open range, and Rocky Mountain Playground.

British Columbia
Majestic mountains, mighty rivers, and coastal rainforests entice and invite.

The Yellowhead Dream

By Terri Mason

Pack horses for the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway survey party on the summer trail in Yellowhead Pass, British Columbia. ca. 1910-1911 Photo: Glenbow Museum NA 915-11

The once secret path of Métis trapper and guide, Tête Jaune, has evolved into the prairie super highway of the twenty-first century—but it wasn’t easy.

The popular trail, in near-constant use since Tête Jaune led a Hudson’s Bay Company trader through in 1825, evolved through pack trains of horses, Red River carts, a gold rush and the bedrock for the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway.

To prove a highway was needed, two adventurers loaded up and set off through rockslides and muskeg on a wild endurance marathon in a Model T Ford.

Overland Four car on railway grade west of Edson, Alberta. June 1922 – On grade abandoned by the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway, Charlie Niemeyer, driver and Frank Silverthorne were the first to drive an automobile from Edmonton, Alberta to Victoria, British Columbia, via the Yellowhead Pass. Often the pair had to stop and build bridges or dig themselves out of boggy areas; they took along 1,200 pounds of equipment, including four 12-foot planks of wood. Photo: Glenbow Museum NA 915-11

After the First World War ended, the idea for a Yellowhead Highway came to light. Adding fuel to the fire, Fred Driscoll, one of the railway surveyors, suggested that the abandoned Grand Trunk railway grade would make a firm foundation for a highway. Charles Grant, President of the Edmonton Automobile and Good Roads Association, and Driscoll began to push for the Yellowhead Highway. The Edmonton Automobile Association offered a gold medal for the first drivers to successfully pilot a car from Edmonton to Victoria through the Yellowhead.

Steam shovel at work during construction of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway near Yellowhead, British Columbia. ca.1911-1912 Photo: Glenbow Museum

Charles Niemeyer and Frank Silverthorne, sponsored by Lines Motors of Edmonton, began the first automobile journey (in an Overland Four) through the Yellowhead Pass on June 17, 1922. A week later George Gordon and J. Sims, sponsored by the Automobile Association of Canada, began travelling the same route with their Model T Ford. Both automobiles reached Victoria on July 4 and both groups received medals for their unique expedition.

During the dark times of the Second World War, many coastal Japanese-Canadians, mostly men, were relocated into internment camps. These construction camps at places like Lucerne, Albreda and Tête Jaune Cache housed over 1,500 people. During this time, the men upgraded and built nineteen bridges and seventy kilometres of road over steep grades. By 1944, the “tote road” was open.

In 1952, the Trans Mountain Oil Pipe Line Company began building an oil pipeline from Edmonton to Vancouver. During the construction, much of the “tote road” was damaged or destroyed.

By 1969, the old tote road had been rebuilt, and paved and in August of 1970, the Premier of British Columbia, W.A.C. Bennett, officially opened the once secret path of Tête Jaune as the Yellowhead Inter-Provincial Highway.

Charlie Niemeyer and Frank Silverthorne bridge building over muskeg, Styal area, Alberta. Photo: Glenbow Museum