Mount Steele is the fifth-highest mountain in Canada and either the tenth- or eleventh-highest peak in North America. Its exact elevation is uncertain. Commonly-quoted figures are 5,073 metres (16,644 ft) and 5,020 metres (16,470 ft). A lower southeast peak of Mt. Steele stands at 4,300 m (14,100 ft).

Major General Sir Samuel Benfield Steele was a Canadian soldier and policeman. He was an officer of the North-West Mounted Police, head of the Yukon detachment during the Klondike Gold Rush, and commanding officer of Strathcona's Horse during the Boer War.