The Red Pony

The Tiflin ranch stories in The Red Pony are set in California’s Salinas Valley. Carl Tiflin and Billy Buck travel to the town of Salinas to do business, but their ranch is on the outskirts of town, in Salinas Valley. Salinas is known for its rodeo, which Jody dreams of in “The Promise.” Salinas Valley is known for its cattle ranches, including the Gabilan Cattle Company, which is named after the mountains to the east of the valley. Jody also names his red pony after these mountains in “The Gift.” To the west of the valley are the Santa Lucias mountains, which are more severe. In “The Great Mountains,” Jody is fascinated with the Santa Lucias and associates them with the old man, Gitano.

Throughout the Tiflin ranch stories, John Steinbeck mentions plants native to the region, such as sage brush, cypress trees, and oak trees. The ranch’s vegetable garden includes local produce, such as muskmelon. The climate and agriculture of the Salinas Valley is described as having “[a] temperate climate and some of the most fertile soil in the state [earning] the region its nickname: ‘salad bowl of world,’ where some 70% of the nation’s lettuce is grown” (“