The pass was used by First Nations people such as the Kootenay to the west and Peigan to the east. In 1806 two men from Rocky Mountain House cut a rough road from the Howse River toward the pass. In June 1807 David Thompson crossed it to the Columbia River. It was named for Joseph Howse, a Hudson's Bay Company factor who crossed it later, in 1809. The pass was not much used, Athabasca Pass being preferred.