Character guide

The Pocket Hunter

major

Also known as Pocket Hunter

He wanders the desert chasing leads and strikes, yet what he truly depends on for a sense of home are the bear at Pine Creek, the juniper at Lone Tree Spring, and the quail at Paddy Jack's. His talk is compounded of miner's superstition and genuine, fascinating gossip about the ebb and flood of creeks, though he holds stubborn miner's prejudices against coyotes and believes in toad venom and snakebite charms. He matters because his wanderings stitch the scattered places of the land together, and his storm-bound night among the wild sheep becomes one of the book's central images of a human briefly accepted by the wild.

Seyavi

supporting

Also known as old Seyavi

She cuts willows twice a year by a creek that never quite reaches the river, and her baskets carry a touch beyond cleverness because the weaver and the warp lived next to the earth and were saturated with the same elements. She once danced wreathed in white clematis, singing that her heart trembled like the twining flower, and though she fed her son meadowlarks' tongues to make him quick of speech, in later years she is loath to admit it. She matters because her craft and reticence embody a whole way of counting time and making art that the book mourns even as it records.

Winnenap

minor

A Paiute man who appears in the narrative as a guide and local figure.

Amos Judson

supporting

Also known as old Amos Judson, Judson

In the Homeric age of settlement he shot Jesus Montaña over the Greenfields water and passed into tradition, and every subsequent owner of Greenfields bought the ranch with Amos in full view. His long feud ends not with gunfire but with Diedrick's large wife sitting on the headgate with a long-handled shovel, knitting through the sun while the water ran into her ditch—and Amos, too much of a gentleman to fight a lady, gave up. He matters because his stubborn, violent, finally almost comic claim to water distills what the desert thinks as it slips past the gardens.

Salty Williams

minor

Also known as Salty

A colorful desert character known for his salty demeanor and stories.

Mr. Fanshawe

minor

A gentleman traveler who appears briefly in the desert landscape.

Bill Gerry

minor

Also known as Bill

A miner and friend of the Pocket Hunter in the desert camps.

Petite Pete

minor

Also known as Pete

A small-statured man who works in the mining towns.

Roeder

minor

A local figure in the mining community of Jimville.

Naboth

minor

A biblical name used for a character in a parable-like story.

Jim Calkins

minor

Also known as Jim

A miner and acquaintance in the desert settlements.

Wilkins

minor

A minor character in the mining camp narratives.

Dimmick

minor

A resident of the desert town mentioned in passing.

Tony Sevadra

minor

Also known as Tony

A Mexican or Spanish-descended character in the grape vine town.

Jesus Romero

minor

Also known as Jesus

A local man in the little town of the grape vines.

Father Shannon

minor

Also known as the Father

A Catholic priest who visits the desert communities.

Timmie O'Shea

minor

Also known as O'Shea

An Irish-descended character in the mining camp.

Long Tom Basset

minor

Also known as Tom

A tall miner known in the desert camps.

Three Finger

minor

A prospector with a distinctive missing finger.

Edswick

minor

A minor character in the Jimville area.

Connor

minor

A resident of the desert town mentioned briefly.

Ruffin

minor

A minor figure in the mining community.

Diedrick

minor

A character in the desert narratives.

Ruy Garcia

minor

A Spanish-named character in the grape vine town.

Mr. Harte

minor

A writer or visitor mentioned in the context of desert life.

Jim Jenkins

minor

A minor figure in the mining stories.

Tomaso

minor

A local man in the little town of the grape vines.