Fonds consists of photographs which document the life and travels of RCMP officers Zachary Taylor Wood and his son, Stuart Taylor Wood in the late 19th Century up to the 1940's in the Yukon. Specifically the photograph albums document the following: RCMP Inspector C. Starnes and his family, Captain Burstell, winter scenes and the Palace Grand Dance Hall in Dawson City, an Indian family at Forty Mile, Fort Constantine, RNWMP members of the "B" Division, locomotive of the White Pass and Yukon Railway, the S.S. Victorian, view of Whitehorse, Tanahah Station, Captain Jack Crawford entertaining Klondike folks, street scene at Dawson, Tagish Post, Forty Mile Police Post, N.W.M.P. band in Yukon, Fifty Mile Creek, hockey match at Barracks in Dawson, Lower River boat Susie, Steamer Excelsior, and the Steamer Victorian. The two photograph albums that are copied document the N.W.M.P. in Western Canada: Fort Walsh, Fort Saskatchewan, South Battleford Saskatchewan, Fort McLeod, Pendant d'Oreille detachment, Fort Steele or also known as Fort Kootney, Frog Lake massacre ground near Batoche, Saskatchewan, Fort Carlton, site of the massacre of 40 Assibone Indians by U.S. white traders in Cypress Hills, Maple Creek, Fort Qu'Appelle in Saskatchewan, view of Helena in Montana, U.S.A., Regina Barracks, photo of S.T. Wood and mother Mrs. Z.T. Wood in Calgary, Alberta, buffalo bones on the plains, photo of Spotted Eagle a war chief under Sitting Bull, Mistawasis a Cree Chief, Ne-bah-quatt-ome a Chippewa Chief,
Wood, Zachary Taylor : The albums were in the possession of Stuart Taylor Wood, who was the RCMP's ninth Commissioner from March 6, 1938 to April 30, 1951. He is the son of Zachary Taylor Wood, who served with the North-West Mounted Police officers. Z.T. Wood came from a prominent family and was born in Annapolis, Maryland, on November 11, 1860. His ancestors included: his great grandfather, U.S. President Zachary Taylor; his great uncle, Confederate States of America President, Jefferson Davis; and his grandfather, U.S. Asst. Surgeon General, Robert C. Wood. His father was John Taylor Wood, second in command of the famous ironclad, the Merimac, and later a notorious Confederate blockade runner. After the Civil War, John Taylor Wood fled to Halifax, Nova Scotia, where Z.T. Wood spent the majority of his early years. At the age of eligibility, Z.T. was sent to the Royal Military College in Kingston, Ontario. Wood graduated from Kingston in 1882 and went on to serve with the Winnipeg Battalion of the 90th Infantry Regiment. Z.T. Wood served with the 90th during the Northwest Rebellion of 1885, receiving a medal of service for the Battle of Batoche. On August 1, 1885 Wood obtained a commission as an Inspector in the North-West Mounted Police. In the fall of 1885 Wood received his assignment to "D" Division, under the commander Superintendent Samuel Benfield Steele.
