Early 1900s Canada photo of Royal North-West Mounted Police

Early photo of 6  Royal North-West Mounted Police (RNWMP) / early RCMP officers on horseback photographed outside a small-town detachment building (Manitoba, possibly North-Western Ontario) between before 1911. 

RARE!

Duties included: Day‑to‑day policing of settlement, Maintaining order among incoming settlers, and administering detachments across prairie communities,

Additional identification information on uniform collars:

13 D
12 D
26 D
(?)4 D 

In Canadian mounted police practice (RNWMP → RCMP), men often wore numerical detachment identifiers on their collars or shoulder straps:

• The number = the troop or detachment number
• The letter = the division

So:

• 26 D = 26th Detachment, D Division
• 4 D = 4th Detachment, D Division

Damaged, toning, stains

Mounted on 8" x 10" card. Photo is 6 ½” x 8 ½”

D Division was a major division of the Royal North-West Mounted Police (RNWMP).  It covered parts of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and later Alberta

The archival records show:

• D Division existed from 1878–1911 in the NWMP/RNWMP period. These are official letterbooks and administrative records.
• Later RCMP history confirms that D Division’s jurisdiction was Manitoba, and at times parts of northwestern Ontario. This aligns with the earlier NWMP/RNWMP footprint.
• The NWMP/ RNWMP operated detachments across Western Canada, and D Division’s letterbooks are explicitly categorized under “Western Canada – Government, Law and Justice.”