Biography

Born Michael William Schall in Maywood, CA, in 1943. His name had been changed to Johnson by his stepdad and mom at age 14. When signing up with a nationwide artist registry, there were many Michael Johnsons, so Michael Schall Johnson was adopted as a pen name. Michael has had an interest in painting and sculpturing since his youth. At age twenty-six, he and his new family moved to the Black Hills region of Wyoming in 1968, working as a Mountain States Tel. repairman. He put the first phones ever in the Four Corners, Wyoming area, about 30-40 of them, as he recalls. The visible ruts in the old Deadwood stage line trails and the tales of the stagecoach robberies inspired his historical novel, “The Bloody Road of Gold,” set in the late 1800s in the Black Hills.

A lover of the westerns from childhood, stars like Tim McCoy, Tex Ritter, Gene Autry, Gabby Hayes, Andy Devine, Hopalong, Shane, etc., were his boyhood idols. Spicing up this story are the likes of Calamity Jane, Seth Bullock, and probably the greatest lawman ever in the old west, D. Boone May; he was not as famous as others, but he should have been. Our hero and May strive to eradicate the likes of Big Nose George Perot, Sam Bass and Lame Johnny Donahue, and many others from the Black Hills. After seeing his words in print, he was inspired by the writing bug.

As always, a painting, sculpturing, and writing student, he studied for a short time at the Colorado Institute of Art. Several "Best of Shows" have been the high spots for these undertakings, along with having a few works in some museums in the west. The mid-’70s saw him gaining much art education by working for and with some very talented artists around the movie industry as a museum and contracting artist in Los Angeles. Then as Art Editor for Newsreel Magazine 1983-1985. The book Mickey Schall Jackson Hole Lineman is generally a record of his early years of tramping and meandering through quite a good bit of the 1950s, the pleasurable Wyoming years of the ’60s, ’70s, and eighties, and finally ending up in Nevada. It was not written to enlighten the reader with great wisdom. However, there is some good information about an exciting chapter of this era. The crude illustrations by the author are intended to add some humor. An old Corvette also helps keep alive the love for old cars. He writes short stories that range from true to life to historical fiction and fantasy.

Michael moved to northeastern Nevada in the early 80s after a divorce and worked for Frontier Telephone, retiring in 2005. He re-married and currently lives in Las Vegas, Nevada, and has four children, nine grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren.

From Michael-

I wasn’t left at a bus station or dropped over a fence. But much of my childhood was a fearful time for me. Early in life, each family I lived with had varying rules (or lack thereof) on how they were enforced. Sometimes, I was pretty terrified. I have no fame nor any celebrities that I mingled with to cash in on accounts and stories. After my shaky, fatherless start in life, my journey was from the middle of the Second World War onward to the 21st Century. I slept in ditches and was homeless when I left my mom and stepdad as a frightened teen. As I started my adult life hoboing through the Mojave Desert, I was afraid of almost everything and everybody.