Burnham, Frederick Russell (1861-1947)

US explorer and scout. After twenty years in the Southwest USA and Mexico, he went to Africa, working closely with British empire-builder Cecil Rhodes. He was chief of scouts in the field for the British army during the Boer War, In 1904 he returned to the USA and led archaeological and mineral-prospecting expeditions in Mexico.

He was born in Tivoli, Minnesota. He moved west with his family and became a horseback messenger with Western Union Telegraph Company at age 13. He had a wife and three children. He retired to a cattle ranch near Sequoia National Park, California.