Alan Innes-Taylor , 1900-1983

Dates

• Existence: 1900 - 1983

Biography

Alan Innes-Taylor arrived in the Yukon in 1919. Two years later he joined the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and stayed with the force for years. In later years, he worked as a purser on the sternwheeler Whitehorse. In 1929, he took employment with the Treadwell Yukon Mining Company at Keno. He participated in both of Admiral Byrd’s Antarctic expeditions, first as a dog driver and later as the chief of field operations. During World War II, Innes-Taylor helped to establish weather stations on Greenland Ice Cap, and commanded Arctic Training Group, Echo Lake, Colorado. A modest man, he did not let most people know about his two Congressional Medals for his work on the Byrd expedition to Antarctica his Carnegie life saving medal or his international reputation in geographical societies. He lived modestly in Dawson and it was not until he was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada that his accomplishments were celebrated more openly. He died in 1983, just a month shy of his 83rd birthday.

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