Harvey Otis Young studied at the St. Johnsbury Academy in Vermont and started his career as an ornamental painter. In 1859 he went West where he prospected and mined for gold and sketched in California, Oregon and Nevada.

During the Civil War he joined the Federal Cavalry and was stationed in Walla Walla, Washington. Following the war, he relocated to San Francisco wher he set up a studio. In 1869, he returned to the East and was based out of New York before relocating to Paris in 1876 where he studied at the Academie Julian.

In 1879, Young returned to the American West establishing residency first in Manitou Springs, Colorado and then Colorado Springs in 1898. It was in Colorado that Young painted the landscapes of the Colorado Springs/Manitou regions for which he is best known.