Sidford F. (Sidford Frederick) Hamp

Sidford Frederick Hamp was born in Liverpool, England, on March 10, 1855. At seventeen, he traveled to the United States and joined the Hayden Geological Survey as an assistant topographer, spending six months with the 1872 expedition in the region that would become Yellowstone National Park before returning to England.

Hamp later settled in Colorado Springs, where he married Josephine Cable in 1899. He wrote novels for young readers, short stories, plays, and opera librettos, many inspired by Colorado and the American West. His books include The Boys of Crawford’s Basin, The Treasure of Mushroom Rock, The Trail of the Badger, and Coco Bolo.

He died on September 3, 1919. His firsthand experience of the Rocky Mountain landscape helped give his adventure fiction its strong sense of place and authenticity.