Bill Peyto

Ebenezer William “Wild Bill” Peyto was a legendary guide, outfitter, and Park Warden whose life mirrored the development of Banff National Park from frontier to managed wilderness. His legacy is fixed in the turquoise waters of Peyto Lake and in the institutional roots of the warden service.

From England to the Rockies. Born in Welling, Kent, England, on 14 February 1869, Peyto arrived in Calgary in February 1887 and worked as a Canadian Pacific Railway labourer near Kicking Horse Pass. By the mid-1890s he had left the railway to trap and outfit from a cabin on the Bow River, gaining an intimate knowledge of the backcountry.

Guiding under Tom Wilson. As the Rockies drew international climbers, Peyto became one of the few non-Swiss guides to earn broad respect. He learned packing and guiding under Tom Wilson, and by 1894 was leading his own parties, including early attempts on Mount Assiniboine. He guided Edward Whymper (Matterhorn conqueror) to Vermilion Pass and the Upper Yoho, and Walter Wilcox to the base of Mount Assiniboine in 1895; climbers like J. Norman Collie described his “wild and picturesque” dress; sombrero, blue shirt, fringed buckskin; and his campfire stories. He was known to quote Thoreau and Ruskin on the trail.

Military service. Peyto enlisted in Lord Strathcona’s Horse for the Boer War (1900–1901), serving as a mounted scout under Sam Steele; legend has it he used an umbrella to draw sniper fire and locate Boer positions. He enlisted again in 1915 (reportedly understating his age) and served as a machine gunner with the 12th Canadian Mounted Rifles in Belgium and France. Wounded at Hooge in June 1916, he was invalided home and discharged in 1918, with lasting injury.

Warden (1913–1937). When the Park Warden Service was formalized in 1909, Peyto was among the first permanent wardens, serving from 1913 until retirement in 1937. His duties included fire patrols, game and predator control, trail building, and search and rescue; including the 1921 rescue of Mrs. Stone from Mount Eon after her husband’s fatal fall. His shift from trapper to conservation officer reflected the park’s move toward preservation under the 1930 National Parks Act.

Character and folklore. Peyto was famously solitary and eccentric. He built “hideouts” in the Healy Creek and Simpson Pass area. The best-known tale has him entering a Banff hotel bar with a live lynx strapped to his back to clear the room and get peace; a 1915 photograph in the Whyte Museum supports the story. He also kept journals titled “Ain’t it Hell,” read widely in natural history, and discussed fossils and philosophy with Norman Sanson at the Banff Park Museum; a proto-ecological outlook beyond his official role.

Personal life and commemoration. He married Emily Wood in 1902; their first son died in infancy (1904) and Emily in 1906. He raised their son Robert and later married Ethel Wells (1921–1940). Peyto died of cancer in Calgary on 23 March 1943 and is buried in the Old Banff Cemetery. His original cabin and a storage building are preserved at the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies; his image has long marked the entrance to Banff. Peyto Lake and Peyto Glacier (Wapta Icefield) bear his name; the lake’s turquoise comes from rock flour in glacial meltwater, and the Peyto Glacier has been a key site for glaciological and climate research for over a century.