His father, the Rev. Edwin Otway Burnham of Kentucky, a long time frontiersman and missionary died when Howard was only 3, leaving the family destitute. He and his mother, Rebecca (Elizabeth) Russell Burnham, left to live with an Uncle in Iowa, but his brother Fred, then 12, stayed in California.
At 14, he was in school in Massachusetts, ill with an injured leg, and his brother sent him the money to return to Los Angeles. His leg was removed four inches below the knee. He also suffered from tuberculosis and following the amputation he had a long convalescence. For those two years he lived with his brother who taught him how to shoot, saddle a horse and pack animal, the art of scoutcraft and how to ride the range, and all of this in spite of his wooden leg. A voracious reader with an amazing memory, he enjoyed books on military strategies and tactics, and was fascinated by history, geology, metallurgy, and mining. He roamed the deserts from Death Valley to lower California, living among and learning from the Cahuilla Indians of Agua Caliente (now Palm Springs, California), and teaming up at times with solitary prospectors to learn desert prospecting, pocket hunting, and the mysteries of the "great horn spoon" (probably the California Gold Rush).
He stayed in California until 1894 to wrap up his family's affairs with the Alvord mine and left for the South African Republic as soon as he could to join his brother Fred already in Africa. In 1895, he married his first wife Margaret. He returned to the United States and from 1896-1898 attended the Michigan Mining School (now Michigan Technological University), graduating with an S.B. In London on November 18, 1903, Howard married Constance Newton, then a young school teacher and an heiress to Newton, Chambers & Company, whom he had met on the ship during their voyage to South Africa.
He traveled the world, frequently worked as a mining engineer and, during World War I, he became an intelligence officer and spy for the government of France. He used his wooden leg to conceal tools for spying when he was behind enemy lines in Germany.
At 14, he was in school in Massachusetts, ill with an injured leg, and his brother sent him the money to return to Los Angeles. His leg was removed four inches below the knee. He also suffered from tuberculosis and following the amputation he had a long convalescence. For those two years he lived with his brother who taught him how to shoot, saddle a horse and pack animal, the art of scoutcraft and how to ride the range, and all of this in spite of his wooden leg. A voracious reader with an amazing memory, he enjoyed books on military strategies and tactics, and was fascinated by history, geology, metallurgy, and mining. He roamed the deserts from Death Valley to lower California, living among and learning from the Cahuilla Indians of Agua Caliente (now Palm Springs, California), and teaming up at times with solitary prospectors to learn desert prospecting, pocket hunting, and the mysteries of the "great horn spoon" (probably the California Gold Rush).
He stayed in California until 1894 to wrap up his family's affairs with the Alvord mine and left for the South African Republic as soon as he could to join his brother Fred already in Africa. In 1895, he married his first wife Margaret. He returned to the United States and from 1896-1898 attended the Michigan Mining School (now Michigan Technological University), graduating with an S.B. In London on November 18, 1903, Howard married Constance Newton, then a young school teacher and an heiress to Newton, Chambers & Company, whom he had met on the ship during their voyage to South Africa.
He traveled the world, frequently worked as a mining engineer and, during World War I, he became an intelligence officer and spy for the government of France. He used his wooden leg to conceal tools for spying when he was behind enemy lines in Germany.
His father, the Rev. Edwin Otway Burnham of Kentucky, a long time frontiersman and missionary died when Howard was only 3, leaving the family destitute. He and his mother, Rebecca (Elizabeth) Russell Burnham, left to live with an Uncle in Iowa, but his brother Fred, then 12, stayed in California.
At 14, he was in school in Massachusetts, ill with an injured leg, and his brother sent him the money to return to Los Angeles. His leg was removed four inches below the knee. He also suffered from tuberculosis and following the amputation he had a long convalescence. For those two years he lived with his brother who taught him how to shoot, saddle a horse and pack animal, the art of scoutcraft and how to ride the range, and all of this in spite of his wooden leg. A voracious reader with an amazing memory, he enjoyed books on military strategies and tactics, and was fascinated by history, geology, metallurgy, and mining. He roamed the deserts from Death Valley to lower California, living among and learning from the Cahuilla Indians of Agua Caliente (now Palm Springs, California), and teaming up at times with solitary prospectors to learn desert prospecting, pocket hunting, and the mysteries of the "great horn spoon" (probably the California Gold Rush).
He stayed in California until 1894 to wrap up his family's affairs with the Alvord mine and left for the South African Republic as soon as he could to join his brother Fred already in Africa. In 1895, he married his first wife Margaret. He returned to the United States and from 1896-1898 attended the Michigan Mining School (now Michigan Technological University), graduating with an S.B. In London on November 18, 1903, Howard married Constance Newton, then a young school teacher and an heiress to Newton, Chambers & Company, whom he had met on the ship during their voyage to South Africa.
He traveled the world, frequently worked as a mining engineer and, during World War I, he became an intelligence officer and spy for the government of France. He used his wooden leg to conceal tools for spying when he was behind enemy lines in Germany.
At 14, he was in school in Massachusetts, ill with an injured leg, and his brother sent him the money to return to Los Angeles. His leg was removed four inches below the knee. He also suffered from tuberculosis and following the amputation he had a long convalescence. For those two years he lived with his brother who taught him how to shoot, saddle a horse and pack animal, the art of scoutcraft and how to ride the range, and all of this in spite of his wooden leg. A voracious reader with an amazing memory, he enjoyed books on military strategies and tactics, and was fascinated by history, geology, metallurgy, and mining. He roamed the deserts from Death Valley to lower California, living among and learning from the Cahuilla Indians of Agua Caliente (now Palm Springs, California), and teaming up at times with solitary prospectors to learn desert prospecting, pocket hunting, and the mysteries of the "great horn spoon" (probably the California Gold Rush).
He stayed in California until 1894 to wrap up his family's affairs with the Alvord mine and left for the South African Republic as soon as he could to join his brother Fred already in Africa. In 1895, he married his first wife Margaret. He returned to the United States and from 1896-1898 attended the Michigan Mining School (now Michigan Technological University), graduating with an S.B. In London on November 18, 1903, Howard married Constance Newton, then a young school teacher and an heiress to Newton, Chambers & Company, whom he had met on the ship during their voyage to South Africa.
He traveled the world, frequently worked as a mining engineer and, during World War I, he became an intelligence officer and spy for the government of France. He used his wooden leg to conceal tools for spying when he was behind enemy lines in Germany.
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