Portal:California/Selected biography/21

Frederick Russell Burnham, DSO (May 11, 1861–September 1, 1947), was an American scout and world traveling adventurer best known for his service as Chief of Scouts to the British Army in Colonial Africa and for teaching woodcraft (i.e., scoutcraft) to Robert Baden-Powell, becoming one of the inspirations to the founding of the Scouting Movement. Burnham was born to a missionary family on an Indian Reservation in Tivoli, Minnesota (near Mankato). His family moved to Los Angeles, California in 1870, and his father, the Rev. Edwin Otway Burnham died when the young Fred was only 11. While the rest of the family moved to Iowa, the young Burnham stayed in California to make his own way, working as a messenger, scout, and professional hunter. In 1923, Burnham struck oil at Dominguez Hills, California, and his family moved to the new housing development of Hollywoodland. He was one of the original members of the first California State Parks Commission, serving from 1927 to 1934, and he was president of the Southwest Museum of Los Angeles from 1938 until 1940. At 86, he died at his home in Santa Barbara and was buried near his former ranch at Three Rivers. Mount Burnham was dedicated in his name in 1952.