| 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: | Between heads of Toby and Hamill Creeks in Purcell Wilderness Conservancy Provincial Park, SW of Invermere, Kootenay Land District |
| Latitude-Longitude: | 50°15'07"N, 116°33'00"W at the approximate centre of this feature. |
| Datum: | WGS84 |
| NTS Map: | 82K/7 |
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Origin Notes and History:
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Earl Grey Pass adopted 9 December 1908 as suggested by Wilmer resident R.R. Bruce, and endorsed by Premier McBride (letters on file). Source: BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office |
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Formerly called Wells Pass, after Fred Marshall Wells, prospector, who was well known in Cariboo mining, and used this pass in the 1890's. Labelled "Well's Pass" on BC map of the East & West Kootenay Districts, 1898 and 1902. Re-named Earl Grey Pass following the Governor General's horseback trip through this pass in 1907. Labelled "Wells Pass" on BC map 4F, 1913; labelled "(Wells) Earl Grey Pass" on BC map 1EM, 1915. Source: BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office |
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Re-named, after Grey, Albert Henry George, fourth Earl (1851-1917), governor-general of Canada 1904-1911, who visited the pass during camping trips in 1908-09. Source: Provincial Archives of BC "Place Names File" compiled 1945-1950 by A.G. Harvey from various sources, with subsequent additions |