11 Facts About Bill Peyto

Ebenezer William Peyto was an English-Canadian pioneer, mountain guide, and early park warden of Banff National Park.

Bill Peyto was born in Welling, Kent in 1869 and immigrated to Canada, settling in Calgary in February 1887.

Bill Peyto found his way to the Canadian Rocky Mountains where he initially worked as a railway labourer.

Bill Peyto eventually found work as a mountain guide under Tom Wilson, and led early expeditions to attempt to climb Mount Assiniboine, including once with James Outram in the 1890s.

Bill Peyto was chosen to lead Edward Whymper to Vermilion Pass.

Bill Peyto enlisted to serve in Lord Strathcona's Horse Regiment during the Boer War in 1899, and during World War I in Belgium and France with the Twelfth Mounted Regiment and Machine Gun Brigade.

Bill Peyto was wounded in his right leg at the Battle of Ypres.

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

Bill Peyto married Emily Wood in 1902; she died in 1906.

Bill Peyto later married Ethel Wells, a native of Lewes, Sussex, England, in 1921.

Bill Peyto died from cancer on 23 March 1943 in Calgary, Alberta and was buried at the Banff Town Cemetery.