Sir Richard Francis Burton (1821 – 1890) was a British explorer, writer, scholar, and soldier. He was famed for his travels and explorations in Asia, Africa, and the Americas, as well as his extraordinary knowledge of languages and cultures. "The City of the Saints and across the Rocky Mountains to Canada" was first published in London in 1861. It is a description of this trip with the detail and close scholarly writing that were Burton's hallmark.