Character guide

The Narrator

major

Also known as I, me, my, myself, mine

He arrives west expecting adventure and finds it in stagecoach robberies, mining swindles, and lecturing halls where his carefully prepared pathos collapses into uproarious comedy. His chief tension is between the romantic expectations he carries from books and the rougher, stranger reality that keeps outwitting him. Because he is both participant and witness, his gradual shedding of innocence shapes the book's comic and moral arc from naive traveler to seasoned observer.

Slade

supporting

Also known as J. A. Slade

Feared and whispered about along the Overland route, Slade is the desperado whose name alone can silence a stagecoach full of passengers. His peculiar tension lies in the way he can let an enemy alone for weeks, apparently patient, before settling the account with cold ceremony. He matters because he embodies the lawless power that shadows every mile of the narrator's journey and gives the West its most chilling legend.

The Admiral

supporting

Also known as Admiral

Aboard the westward steamer, the Admiral is the passenger everyone dreads and no one can refute, since he simply creates the history he needs to win. His flaw is a temper that erupts within minutes, driving his audience away and leaving him roaring at empty chairs. He matters because his eventual rout by the quiet passenger Williams provides one of the book's finest comic set pieces and a lesson in the limits of bombast.

Mr. Winters

minor

Also known as Winters

A fellow passenger on the overland stagecoach journey.

Higbie

supporting

Also known as Mr. Higbie, staid and steadfast Higbie

Higbie is the reliable partner whose one lapse—chasing the seductive rumor of a cement mine—costs the pair their claim. His tension is between his ordinarily dependable nature and the mining fever that no old prospector can resist. He matters because his missed note and broken-down horse turn the blind lead into a lesson about trust, timing, and the folly of leaving important matters to chance.

Mr. Young

minor

A passenger on the stagecoach, later a minor acquaintance.

Scotty Briggs

supporting

Also known as Scott, Scotty

Scotty is a Virginia City miner whose loyalty to Buck Fanshaw drives him to seek a clergyman for the funeral, despite his own unfamiliarity with religious forms. His tension lies in the gap between his rough frontier speech and the solemn ceremony he wants to provide. He matters because his negotiations with the minister produce one of the book's most famous comic dialogues and reveal the genuine tenderness beneath the mining camp's coarse surface.

Arkansas

minor

Also known as Mr. Arkansas

A quarrelsome and drunken passenger on the steamer.

Buck Fanshaw

supporting

Also known as Buck

Buck is the beloved roughneck whose generosity and good humor made him a pillar of the mining camp, and whose funeral draws the whole community. His significance lies less in his own actions than in the elaborate, mismatched ceremony his friends arrange for him, exposing the collision of frontier manners and formal religion. He matters because his death gives the book its warmest portrait of camaraderie and its sharpest satire of how the West buries its own.

Mr. Ballou

supporting

Also known as old Mr. Ballou, old Ballou, Ballou

Ballou holds no rank in the narrator's four-man cabin beyond age, yet he never claims exemption from cold ground, hard labor, or the communal blanket pile. His one vanity is vocabulary: he calls the exhausted horses 'bituminous from long deprivation' and the bed-hogging pup 'meretricious in his movements and so organic in his emotions,' and no sarcasm can pierce his ironclad earnestness. He anchors the desert journey's comedy and its warmth, the proof that a humble sphere can be graced.

Capt. Ned Blakely

supporting

Also known as Capt . Ned Blakely, Ned, Ned Blakely, Blakely

Blakely is the harbor's most decisive man, a captain who arrests Bill Noakes by walking behind his quartermaster with a double-barreled gun rested on the man's shoulder and the warning 'you know me.' When the other captains protest that Noakes must be tried before he hangs, Ned genuinely cannot parse the objection: the man killed the nigger, so the man hangs, and he offers to attend the trial afterward if it will give satisfaction. His frontier logic collides with legal ceremony, and the collision is the whole grim comedy.

Tom Quartz

minor

Also known as Tom So - and - So, old Tom Quartz

A clever and mischievous cat belonging to a miner.

Ollendorff

supporting

Also known as Poor Ollendorff

Ollendorff carries the camp's bad luck and its softest heart: he turned over the canoe, led the party in circles through the snow, and has nursed a wound ever since Mr. Ballou called him a logarithm. Facing what looks like death by freezing, he tearfully forgives everyone, throws away his whisky, and vows to devote his spared life to nursing the sick and pleading against intemperance. His sincerity is total and his reform lasts about as long as the weather, making him the expedition's most human and most forgiven failure.

Jack Williams

minor

Also known as Deputy Marshal Jack Williams, Williams, last Jack Williams, the quiet passenger Williams, Meantime Williams, Marshall

A deputy marshal and passenger on the overland stage.

Col. Jack

minor

Also known as Jack, Johnny, Col

A military officer and acquaintance in the Nevada territory.

Brigham Young

supporting

Also known as Brigham, Brigham Young President

In the narrator's two-day pass through Salt Lake City, Brigham Young looms less as a man than as a system: a republican form of government on the surface, an absolute monarchy underneath, with a harem of twenty or thirty wives comfortably housed in the Lion House. Around his name cluster the Gentile den's night stories of Destroying Angels, back-alley corpses, and heedless visitors who speak lightly of polygamy and are found waiting for the hearse by morning. He is the gravity well of the Utah chapters, the reason the narrator's reforming zeal meets its match.

Captain Cook

minor

Also known as Cook, Captain James Cook

The famous British explorer, discussed in the Hawaiian section.

Mr. Street

minor

Also known as XIV Mr. Street, Street

A fellow passenger and later acquaintance in Nevada.

Horace Greeley

minor

Also known as Horace, Greeley

The famous newspaper editor, mentioned in a stagecoach anecdote.

Eckert

minor

A miner and friend of the narrator in the silver fields.

George Gumbert

minor

Also known as Gumbert

A miner and companion in the narrator's early Nevada days.

Hank Monk

minor

Also known as Hank

A famous stagecoach driver known for a wild ride with Horace Greeley.

Jim Blaine

minor

Also known as one Jim Blaine, haunting Blaine, Blaine

A garrulous old miner who tells a long, rambling story.

Sugarfoot Mike

minor

Also known as Mike, Presently Mike

A minor character in the mining camps, often mentioned.

Capt. John Nye

minor

Also known as John, Capt . John Nye, Capt . John

A captain and acquaintance of the narrator in Nevada.

Governor Roop

minor

Also known as Roop, ex - Governor Roop, referee Roop, Ex - Governor Roop

A territorial governor and referee in a mining dispute.

Lan'lord

minor

The landlord of a hotel or boarding house in the mining town.

Boggs

minor

Also known as Meantime Boggs

A miner and acquaintance in the Nevada territory.

George Bemis

minor

Also known as Mr. George Bemis, George, Bemis

A miner and friend of the narrator in the camps.

Dan

minor

Also known as Daniel

A miner and companion of the narrator.

Captain Fish

minor

A sea captain encountered during the narrator's travels.

Reuel Gridley

minor

Also known as Gridley

A man who runs a humorous sack of flour auction for charity.

Conrad Wiegand

minor

Also known as Conrad

A German miner involved in a notable incident in the camps.

Joseph Smith

minor

Also known as Joseph Smith , Jr., the said Smith, Joseph, Smith

The founder of Mormonism, discussed in the Salt Lake City section.

Billy Brown

minor

Also known as Brown, Willis

A miner and acquaintance of the narrator.

Philip Lynch

minor

Also known as Lynch

A miner and acquaintance in the camps.

The Dissolute Stranger

minor

Also known as a dissolute stranger with a literary turn of mind—rather seedy

A seedy, literary-minded stranger encountered in a bar.

John Smith

minor

Also known as Presently Smith, Smith

A common name used for a minor character in the camps.

Liholiho

minor

Also known as King Liholiho

A Hawaiian king, mentioned in the Sandwich Islands section.

John B. Winters

minor

Also known as Gen. John B. Winters, Winters, Gen. Winters

A general and acquaintance in the Nevada territory.

Mr. Lynch

minor

A minor character in the Nevada mining community.

Kaahumanu

minor

A Hawaiian queen, mentioned in the Sandwich Islands section.

Baldy Johnson

minor

Also known as Johnson, Presently Johnson

A miner and acquaintance in the camps.

Whiteman

minor

A minor character in the mining camp stories.

Mr. Goodman

minor

A newspaper editor and acquaintance of the narrator.

Kamehameha

minor

Also known as Kamehameha I, Kamehameha the Great

The great Hawaiian king, discussed in the Sandwich Islands section.

Johnny K—

minor

Also known as Johnny

A minor character in the Nevada mining community.

Old Curry

minor

Also known as Old Abe Curry, Curry, Abe Curry

An old miner and acquaintance of the narrator.

Tom Reeder

minor

Also known as Reeder

A miner and acquaintance of the narrator in the camps.

Old Robbins

minor

Also known as Robbins

An old miner and storyteller in the camps.

The General

minor

A military figure encountered by the narrator in the West.

Mr. Jules

minor

Also known as Jules

A Frenchman and station keeper on the overland route.

Marlette

minor

A miner and acquaintance in the Nevada silver fields.

The Captain

minor

Also known as the captain, the Captain

A ship captain encountered during the Hawaiian portion of the book.

Shiz

minor

A minor character in the mining camp anecdotes.

Coriantumr

minor

A figure from the Book of Mormon, discussed in the Salt Lake City section.

Miss Wagner

minor

Also known as Old Miss Wagner

An old woman in the mining town, known for her eccentricities.

The Smiling Stranger

minor

A mysterious, cheerful man encountered in a mining camp.

John James Godfrey

minor

Also known as John Godfrey

A minor character in the Nevada mining community.

Mr. Jarves

minor

A passenger on the overland stagecoach.

Markiss

minor

A minor character in the mining camp stories.

Bill Noakes

minor

Also known as one Bill Noakes, Noakes

A miner known for a particular anecdote in the book.

Col. Jim

minor

Also known as Col, Jimmy

A military officer and acquaintance in the West.

Dick Hyde

minor

Also known as Hyde

A miner involved in a humorous incident in the camps.

The Mild Stranger

minor

Also known as The mild stranger , not yet more than half sober

A half-sober stranger who appears in a barroom scene.

Tom Morgan

minor

Also known as Morgan

A miner and acquaintance of the narrator.

Mr. Baker

minor

Also known as Baker

A minor character encountered in the West.

Kaikioewa

minor

A Hawaiian chief, mentioned in the Sandwich Islands section.

Bascom

minor

A minor character in the Nevada territory.

Dollinger

minor

A minor character in the mining camp anecdotes.

Mr. Ah Sing

minor

A Chinese merchant encountered in the West.

Mr. W.

minor

Also known as W.

A minor character referred to by initial only.

Mr. F.

minor

A minor character referred to by initial only.

Mrs. Beazeley

minor

A minor female character in the mining town.

Mr. Greely

minor

A minor character, possibly a variant of Horace Greeley.

Sam Brown

minor

Also known as Samson, Brown, Little Brown

A miner and acquaintance in the camps.

Mr. Stewart

minor

A minor character encountered in the West.

Dick Baker

minor

A miner and storyteller, known for his cat Tom Quartz.