J. W. Johnson wrote about the people and stories he grew up knowing, not about the good old West or the heroes later depicted in the movies. He was born February 2, 1885 in Huntington Utah. When old enough to strike out on his own, like Zane Grey and other Western Authors, he learned he needed to be a jack of many trades to survive life.

>He studied classical painting at the Rijks Museum in Amsterdam, and later attended Brigham Young University, where he completed a degree in Art and Music. He married his childhood sweetheart, and took up teaching English, music & art. The death of his wife and child in childbirth prompted a move to Arizona where he became in turn a newspaper owner, a general store owner, a chiropractor, and a lawyer. The death of his wife and child in childbirth prompted a move to Arizona where he became in turn a newspaper owner, a general store owner, a chiropractor, and a lawyer.

>J.W. Married again in 1925, and eventually moved to Idaho. He and a partner staked a gold mining claim on the Boise River. They worked the claim using hydraulic giants for one season. J.W. became a prolific writer of pulp westerns from his first sale to the early Westerner Magazine. His writing provided a much-needed boost to their income. In 1929, he started near full time work on The Bitterroot Trail and spent the next six years of his life researching and writing it. J.W. kept on with his painting, but never wrote another novel. He began to investigate meta-physics and religion instead, continuing until his death in November, 1957.