Robert Allan Brown (c. 1849–1931)[1] was a well-known and flamboyant prospector and speculator in the 19th and early 20th centuries, in the Canadian province of British Columbia. He was known generally as Volcanic Brown, especially in the province's Kootenay and Boundary districts, as well as adjoining Eastern Washington. He was known as Sunset Brown in the Similkameen District, and to others as Crazy Brown. His enthusiastic nature and flamboyant personality made him a fixture in mining industry news over a wide region, spanning the British Columbia-United States border.
Brown was prominent in the Boundary Country and Inland Empire mining industries, in capacities ranging from being a notable and very successful prospector, through to being a speculator, promoter and investor. He was also the founder of Volcanic City, one of the many short-lived mining and smelting towns of the Boundary Country. He was a prominent presence in many mining districts throughout the region, leading the way in discoveries of several important orebodies, although he never became wealthy.[2][3]