Gump, 'the hardware merchant and president of the El Dorado Board of Trade'. Almira Gump, professor of history and Italian in the Gump Academy Venus Gump, director of a dressmaking and millinery establishment. El Dorado inhabitants Inhabitants from neighbouring towns, who come to take back their money after the Gumps have left. a woman from Missouri, with her children. Allusions to actual history The Gumps are compared to Menes and Romulus. Allusions to other works Inhabitants from El Dorado are compared to Hesperides and Hercules. In Winchester, Apollo took Josiah to see Adelina Patti. The Bible is mentioned, with direct references to Nimrod and Mammon. The Gumps have a painting which looks like something by Edgar Degas. Dante is also mentioned. Literary significance and criticism In a 1938 letter to Edward Wagenknetch, Willa Cather admitted that El Dorado: A Kansas Recessional was retouched by one of her professors and submitted for publication without her consent. References External links Full Text at the Willa Cather Archive 1901 short stories Short stories by Willa Cather Works originally published in The New England Magazine