Thomas Edmonds Wilson was born on August 21, 1859 at Bondhead, just north of Toronto, Ontario. When he turned seventeen, Wilson headed for the “Wild West”.
Tom Wilson joins the NWMP
Tom Wilson had joined the NWMP in 1879 at age 19, but had quit the Force over the Canadian government’s unvoiced policy of starving the aboriginals into submission. He was unable to forgive Sir John A. Macdonald and his political fellowship in Ottawa for allowing Chief Sitting Bull and his Sioux nation to starve over the brutal winter of 1880-1881; or for supporting James Walsh, James Macleod and Sam Steele of the NWMP who were sympathetic toward the plight of the natives. Wilson accompanied the famous scout, Jerry Potts, in watching Chief Sitting Bull who had arrived in Canada by crossing the Medicine Line (49th parallel) following the Battle of the Little Big Horn in Montana.
From his association with the different aboriginal lodges of the plains and foothills he learned how to live in the wilderness. His early mentors, Major James Walsh, Colonel James Macleod and Major Sam Steele of the NWMP, taught him to settle disputes fairly and impartially.
Wilson Surveys for Major Rogers on Transcontinental Railroad
In 1881, Wilson became an assistant surveyor for Major A. B. Rogers, the surveyor in charge of locating the best route through the Rockies for the new transcontinental railroad across Canada. He was present when the last spike of the railroad was driven in at Craigellachie, B.C., just west of Revelstoke, on November 7, 1885.
Wilson Becomes Mountain Outfitter
In 1881, Wilson was the first white person to see Lake Louise, Takkakaw Falls, Twin Falls and Emerald Lake. He discovered Emerald Lake while searching for pack horses that had wandered away from the Kicking Horse River. After his contract with Rogers was complete, Wilson set up the first guide service in the Rockies. He guided visitors from Europe and the USA on hunting, climbing and exploration trips through the wilderness in Banff and Jasper. He was also the first guide to take people into the Mt. Assiniboine area, the Skoki Lakes, the Yoho areas, and to Lake Louise, Lake O’Hara and Emerald Lake for mountaineering expeditions.
When the North-West Rebellion broke out in 1885, Tom Wilson hired on with Sam Steele’s Rangers to hunt down Chief Big Bear and Gabriel Dumont. Returning to Alberta, Wilson went to Edmonton to marry Minnie McDougall on October 18, 1895. They settled in with Minnie’s uncle, Rev. John McDougall, at Morley before moving to Banff to set up an outfitter guide business, and had five children. He also helped A. O. Wheeler form the Alpine Club of Canada as one of the founding members. Wilson assisted with the first Alpine Club camp in the Little Yoho Valley in 1907.
Tom Wilson died in Banff on September 20, 1933 at the age of seventy-four and is buried in the Banff cemetery in the midst of the mountains he loved.
Sources:
The Canadian Rockies: Pioneers, Legends and True Tales (2005), Roger W. Patillo, p.5-7, 11.
Tales From the Canadian Rockies (1984, 1994), Brian Patton, p.303.
Canadian Rockies Trail Guide (2007), Brian Patton, Bart Robinson, p.296.
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