Alfred Waddington - The man behind the mountain

The Northern part of Vancouver Island and the adjacent Mainland Inlets fall within the Mt. Waddington Regional District, named for the highest peak in the coastal mountain range (13,260 ft.), which is also the highest mountain falling totally within the borders of British Columbia.  The District covers 2,072,000 hectares and stretches from Sayward and Brooks Peninsula to Cape Scott on Vancouver Island, and reaches from Cape Caution to the birthplace of the Klinaklini River, back down to Johnstone Strait on BC's rugged Mainland Coast.
Mt. Waddington is named in honour of Alfred Waddington, a BC pioneer.
Waddington was at one time considered one of the wealthiest businessmen in the province.  He was also an advocate for the development of a free and public education system.
Alfred Waddington was born in London, England on October 2, 1801.  He traveled to France and then to Germany to complete his education, as was common with the wealthier British classes of the day.
The sixth son of a banker/merchant, Waddington tried his hand at a variety of business ventures in England and France before deciding to pursue his fortune in connection with the California gold rush in 1849.  He sailed to California and then when the Fraser River gold rush started he moved on to Victoria in 1858.
He arrived in the colony at the age of 57.

Alfred Waddington

Waddington wrote the first individually authored book published in British Columbia: "The Fraser Mines Vindicated" or "The History of Four Months."
Convinced that the future of the territories would require transportation systems, Waddington conceived of an ambitious project to connect Bute Inlet to Fort Alexandria.  He threw himself into this project, and personally financed and oversaw the surveying and construction associated with the development of this road.  He almost went bankrupt trying to see the plan to fruition.
In April 1864 his road surveying crew were attacked by the Chilcotin First Nation.  Fourteen of his seventeen surveyors were killed, and all of their tools, provisions, and plans were stolen or destroyed. In during the latter part of 1864 and 1865 five First Nations chiefs were captured, put on trial for the murders, and eventually hanged.  There was controversy at the time surrounding the trial, the verdict, and the methods used to capture the chiefs. In 1993 a provincial court judge was asked to look into the historical issue, which was still an issue of deep importance for the Chilcotin people.  The justice recommended the First Nations who were hanged receive a posthumous pardon from the government, and later in the 1990s the government issued a formal apology to the Chilcotin (now known as Tsilhqot'in) people.
Waddington sat for two terms on the Vancouver Island assembly, representing Victoria.
He served as Superintendent of Education for the Colony of Vancouver Island from 1865 - 1867, and was instrumental in the development of a free and accessible public education system in British Columbia.
In 1866 the Vancouver Island was merged with Mainland British Columbia, and free education became a thing of the past for Vancouver Islanders.
Waddington argued vehemently for the continuation of a free education system, however the new government closed schools and a public education system was not again established on the island until 1872.
Until his death Waddington maintained his obsession with the development of a trade route connecting the West Coast with the rest of Canada.
He lobbied for this cause both in Canada and England.  He did not quite live to see his dream completed, and he died at the age of 71 from smallpox in Ottawa on February 27, 1872.