Tom Peterson, who was born in Jasper in 1930, amassed a vast knowledge of fur-trading, aboriginal peoples of the area, and the changing relationships between the upper Athabasca River region and the people who lived there.
Peterson made countless visits to the old logging tie camps in Jasper and other historic sites to document the stories of the land, forests and people who travelled through this area, and has helped others to do the same. He was sought out as an expert by Parks staff, Universities, historical authors and just about anyone interested in early explorer history in the Athabasca corridor.
One of Tom’s first jobs was working at a U.S. Army Recreation Camp in 1945, when the U.S. Army rented Becker’s Chalets, near the Athabasca River, to give soldiers returning home from war a brief holiday.
In the summers of 1946-1948, Tom worked for pioneer Jasper outfitter Fred Brewster at the Maligne Lake Chalet and Cabins. His duties included lighting the log stoves in the tent cabins in the morning, bringing hot water to the guests and taking them out fishing. Tom guided many a famous guest including Canada’s Governor General, Howard Alexander, who tipped him $5—big money at the time.
After a temporary stint working for the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce in Jasper, Tom went to work in 1953 with general contractors Crawley and Mohr. Their firm built houses and buildings around Jasper, including the cabin that was used in the 1954 film “River of No Return,” starring Marilyn Monroe and Robert Mitchum.
By this point, Tom had met and married the love of his life, Vi, a young pastry chef whose baking became a favourite treat on any trip Tom and his companions took into Jasper’s backcountry. Tom and Vi had three boys and one girl, all raised in Jasper, and as their children left home, Tom and Vi began renting out their rooms to help single girls working in Jasper cope with the housing shortage. But the Petersons weren’t just landlords; together, from 1972 to 1984, they provided a positive influence on hundreds of young people, many of whom settled in Jasper and raised families of their own.
No doubt Tom’s passion for history was inspired by his mother Constance, who used to store much of Jasper’s historical archives in her house, in Tom’s old bedroom, until Constance, Tom and others helped found the Jasper Historical Society in 1963. In 1990, Tom helped cut the ribbon of the Jasper Yellowhead Museum and Archives in honour of his mother’s contributions.
Tom co-authored or contributed knowledge to many books including A Hard Road to Travel; The History of Jasper; The Northern Rockies Eco-Guide; Tracks Across My Trail; Highland Soldiers; and Jasper – Robson: A Taste of Heaven. He was involved in countless presentations and historical hiking tours throughout the Jasper and Hinton areas.
If you wanted to know about the history of David Thompson, the Metis leaving the Park in 1910 or where to find the trail the Overlanders used in 1862, Tom was your man. He was also knowledgeable about more recent events like the Canadian Army using the hills surrounding Talbot Lake to practice trench warfare prior to embarking for the Korea in the early 1950s. Tom was working at the bank at the time and used to cash cheques for the Canadian soldiers—just one small example of his hands-on historical research that led to a lifetime of hiking in Jasper.
Tom played a big role in creating the Jasper House interpretative trail and platform, and the interpretative panels on Solomon Hill near Brule. After he and Vi moved to Hinton in 1995, Tom helped establish the Hinton Museum and supported both Hinton’s Historical Society and Coal Branch Archives at Hinton’s Library.
There isn’t a historical artifact, location or trail in the park that Peterson did not know about. At 78 years of age, Tom scrambled up Roche Miette for the last time. In his younger years, he chased marauding night-time bears away from his tent at Jacques Lake, armed only with a flashlight, and he was backpacking tough routes like the Athabasca Pass Trail well into his 70s.
Tom and his beloved Vi have passed away, but Tom’s passion and knowledge on historical events in the region live on, many of which we wouldn’t even know about without his efforts. For that we are eternally grateful to Tom.
Stuart Taylor // thejasperlocal@gmail.com
Stuart Taylor is an amateur historian and former member of Hinton Town Council. Let him know what you think of his historical features or suggest another subject for him to cover.
