Ebenezer William Peyto ( ; 14 February 1869 – 23 March 1943) was an English-Canadian pioneer,

mountain guide A mountain guide is a specially trained and experienced professional mountaineer who is certified by local authorities or mountain guide associations. They are considered to be high-level experts in mountaineering, and are hired to instruct or ...

, and early park

warden A warden is a custodian, defender, or guardian. Warden is often used in the sense of a watchman or guardian, as in a prison warden. It can also refer to a chief or head official, as in the Warden of the Mint. ''Warden'' is etymologically identic ...

Banff National Park Banff National Park is Canada's oldest National Parks of Canada, national park, established in 1885 as Rocky Mountains Park. Located in Alberta's Rockies, Alberta's Rocky Mountains, west of Calgary, Banff encompasses of mountainous terrain, wi ...

Life and career

Peyto was born in Welling, Kent in 1869 and immigrated to Canada, settling in

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

in February 1887. He found his way to the Canadian Rocky Mountains where he initially worked as a railway labourer. By the mid-1890s Peyto had built a small log cabin close to the

Bow River The Bow River is a river in Alberta, Canada. It begins within the Canadian Rocky Mountains and winds through the Alberta foothills onto the prairies, where it meets the Oldman River, the two then forming the South Saskatchewan River. These w ...

where he kept his outfitting and trapping gear. Peyto eventually found work as a mountain guide under Tom Wilson, and led early expeditions to attempt to climb

Mount Assiniboine Mount Assiniboine, also known as Assiniboine Mountain, is a pyramidal peak mountain located on the Great Divide, on the British Columbia/Alberta border in Canada. At , it is the highest peak in the Southern Continental Ranges of the Canadian Ro ...

, including once with James Outram in the 1890s. He was also chosen to lead

Edward Whymper Edward Whymper FRSE (27 April 184016 September 1911) was an English mountaineer, explorer, illustrator, and author best known for the first ascent of the Matterhorn in 1865. Four members of his climbing party were killed during the descent. W ...

Vermilion Pass Vermilion Pass, elevation , is a high mountain pass in the Canadian Rockies, traversing the continental divide. It connects Kootenay National Park in the province of British Columbia with Banff National Park in Alberta. See also * List of Rocky ...

. Peyto enlisted to serve in Lord Strathcona's Horse Regiment during the

Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the Sou ...

in 1899, and during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

in Belgium and France with the Twelfth Mounted Regiment and Machine Gun Brigade. He was wounded in his right leg at the

Battle of Ypres The Battle of Ypres was a series of engagements during the First World War, near the Belgian city of Ypres, between the German and the Allied armies (Belgian, French, British Expeditionary Force and Canadian Expeditionary Force). During the five ...

. Peyto worked as a park warden in the Banff National Park from 1913 until his retirement in 1937.

Death and legacy

Peyto married Emily Wood in 1902; she died in 1906.Ancestry.com. Alberta, Canada, Marriages Index, 1898-1944 atabase on-line Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2017. He later married Ethel Wells, a native of

Lewes Lewes () is the county town of East Sussex, England. It is the police and judicial centre for all of Sussex and is home to Sussex Police, East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service, Lewes Crown Court and HMP Lewes. The civil parish is the centre of ...

, Sussex, England, in 1921. She died in 1940. Bill Peyto died from cancer on 23 March 1943 in Calgary, Alberta and was buried at the Banff Town Cemetery. At the time of his death, he was survived by one son, Robert.http://www.pioneersalberta.org/profiles/p.html#peyto "Pioneer Profiles" Two brothers, Walter and Sam Peyto, also lived in Banff. A large photograph of Peyto prominently marks the entrance to the town of

Banff, Alberta Banff is a town within Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada. It is located in Alberta's Rockies along the Trans-Canada Highway, approximately west of Calgary and east of Lake Louise. At above Banff is the community with the second highest e ...

Peyto Glacier __NOTOC__ The Peyto Glacier is situated in the Canadian Rockies in Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada, approximately northwest of the town of Banff, and can be accessed from the Icefields Parkway. Geography Peyto Glacier is an outflow glac ...

on the

Continental Divide A continental divide is a drainage divide on a continent such that the drainage basin on one side of the divide feeds into one ocean or sea, and the basin on the other side either feeds into a different ocean or sea, or else is endorheic, not ...

and

Peyto Lake Peyto Lake ( ) is a glacier-fed lake in Banff National Park in the Canadian Rockies. The lake itself is near the Icefields Parkway. It was named for Bill Peyto, an early trail guide and trapper in the Banff area. The lake is formed in a valley of ...

are named in his honour.

References

External links

Bill Peyto: A rare breed in Banff
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Peyto, Bill Settlers of Canada 1869 births 1943 deaths English emigrants to Canada People from Banff, Alberta