
On the same route, Simon Fraser established the first Rocky Mountain trading post at Hudson's Hope (1805). European explorers approached by northern routes Alexander Mackenzie, the first (1793) to cross the Rockies, used the Peace River.

Kootenay and Secwepemc peoples long travelled the southern passes to hunt on the Prairies. The human record in the Canadian Rockies is less than 4000 years old. These and other passes mark the southern boundary between BC and Alberta and mark the Continental Divide, where Pacific watersheds back onto Atlantic and Arctic sources. The Canadian Rockies of song, film, painting and postcard, however, are in the Main Ranges, near the rail and highway routes through 2 mountain passes.


The Canadian segment of the Rockies extends 1200 km from the American borders of BC and Alberta to the Liard River Basin, flanked on the west by a distinct trench and on the east by rolling foothills. Rocky Mountains, North America's largest mountain system, are widely known for their vistas of spacious subalpine valleys and rugged, exposed rock faces.
