| Feature Type: | Pass (2) - Low opening in a mountain range or hills, offering a route from one side to the other. |
| Status: | Official |
| Name Authority: | BC Geographical Names Office |
| Relative Location: | NW of Glacier (locality) S of Connaught Creek in Glacier National Park, Kootenay Land District |
| Latitude-Longitude: | 51°16'59"N, 117°34'04"W at the approximate centre of this feature. |
| Datum: | WGS84 |
| NTS Map: | 82N/5 |
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Origin Notes and History:
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Balu Pass adopted 12 December 1939 on Big Bend sheet (file B.3.38). Source: BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office |
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Named by Dominion Topographic Survey, whose surveyors camped here 2 - 6 August 1902. By the time the account of the survey was published in 1905, it had been suggested that "Baloo Pass" [sic] be adopted (The Selkirk Range, by Arthur O. Wheeler, Department of Interior, 1905, p.70), in association with Bruins Pass, Mt. Grizzly, Ursus Major, Ursus Minor, etc. Baloo is a variant spelling of balu, the Hindustani word for bear. See also Bagheera Mountain, named at the same time, being the Hindustani word for tiger. Note that "Bagheera" and "Baloo" are characters (panther and bear, respectively) in Kipling's "Jungle Book". Source: BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office |