Identity area
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Authorized form of name
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Description area
Dates of existence
History
Thomas Edmonds Wilson, 1859-1933, was born and educated in Ontario. He came west via Fort Benton, Montana, USA, joined the North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) and was stationed at Fort Walsh, Saskatchewan in 1880. He resigned in 1881 and joined a survey party seeking a route for the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) through the Rocky Mountains. He guided Major A.B. Rogers, for whom Rogers Pass was named. He served in Steele's Scouts during the 1885 Riel Rebellion (North West Rebellion). Later the same year he married Minnie McDougall, 1865-1936, of Owen Sound, Ontario and established a guiding and outfitting business in Morley, Alberta on the Stoney reserve.
The Wilsons had six children, Thomas Edmonds "Ed", 1898-1979, John Clark, 1888-1932, Adelaide Ann "Ada", 1886-1967?, Rene, ?-1968, Bessie (Dier) and Dora Burrell (McRitchie), 1898-1963. In 1893 he moved the business to Banff, Alberta. He was a noted explorer and guide and is credited with discovering Lake Louise, Alberta and blazing the trail to Mt. Assiniboine. Mount Wilson and Wilson Road, Calgary are named for him.
For further information see Trail Blazer of the Canadian Rockies / Thomas Edmonds Wilson. -- Calgary : Glenbow, 1972; William F. E. Morley's article "Tom Wilson of the Canadian Rockies" in Alberta History. -- vol. 54, no. 1 (Winter 2006), p. 2-9; and Edward J. Hart's entry, "Thomas Edmonds Wilson", in the Dictionary of Canadian Biography, www.biographi.ca.