Calderwood was born in Kilmarnock, East Ayrshire, Scotland, and went to work in the local coal mines at the age of nine while attending public night school.
Calderwood was president of the newly formed WFM during the Cripple Creek miners' strike of 1894.
As the strike began, Calderwood left for Salt Lake City, Utah, to attend the second convention of the WFM.
Johnson's planning and cool head helped the miners weather the initial assault by gangs of hired thugs sent to break the strike.
Emma Langdon was the wife of a man who had been a newspaper reporter in Victor, Colorado, during the Cripple Creek miners' strike of 1903–04.