Robert Allan Brown

Robert Allan Brown was a well-known and flamboyant prospector and speculator in 19th and early 20th Century in the Canadian province of British Columbia. He was known generally as Volcanic Brown, especially in the province's Kootenay and Boundary districts and in adjoining Eastern Washington, and also as Sunset Brown in the Similkameen District and still also to others as Crazy Brown. His enthusiastic nature contributed to his nickname, and as result of that and his flamboyant personality he was a fixture in mining industry news in a wide region which spanned the British Columbia-United States border.

Brown was prominent in the British Columbia mining industry, in capacities ranging from being a notable and very successful prospector through to being a speculator, promoter and investor, and also the founder of Volcanic City, one of the many short-lived mining and smelting towns of the Boundary Country. He was a presence in many mining districts throughout the region and led the way in discoveries of several important orebodies, although he never became wealthy.

Legacy

Other than Volcanic City, other places named for Volcanic Brown include Volcanic Creek and Brown Creek, which enter the Granby River 15 km upstream from the town of Grand Forks, near the site of Volcanic City.

References

• Encyclopedia of Ghost Towns and Mining Camps of British Columbia: Volume 2, The Similkameen, Boundary and Okanagan, T.W. Paterson, Sunfire Publications, Langley B.C. (1981) ISBN 0-88983-02-4

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Name	Brown, Robert
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