"..for instance, is set in the town of Rio Seco which, in Kelton's mind, is the area around Eldorado, south of San Angelo. That area had the combination of ranching and farmland that Kelton needed to tell his story. But Eldorado did not have the Victorian courthouse Kelton wanted to use, particularly for the scene's opening novel, so he mentally moved the 1880s courthouse from Paint Rock down to Eldorado (or Rio Seco) to replace the existing plan, square building. Nor did the Eldorado wool warehouse fit his needs--but the one at Sonora was just right, so he moved it. In other words, he created his fictional town from bits and pieces of real towns that he knew well."
When I first read this I was blown away because when I read The Time It Never Rained I sorta placed Rio Seco in an Eldorado setting and imagined the Sonora courthouse and woolhouse there too when Elmer Kelton describes them in the book. I have always felt this was just the fact that I was so familar with Eldorado and Sonora and I would naturally do that instead of somewhere else. It was what I knew to help me enjoy the book. Little did I know that it was what Elmer Kelton was thinking too.
I found it interesting he went for the Paint Rock courthouse instead of the Sonora one because they were designed by the Ruffini Brothers and look very much alike:
Paint Rock CourthouseDate - 1883
Architect - F.E. Ruffini
Style - Second Empire
Material - Stone
Sonora Courthouse
Date - 1891
Architect - Oscar Ruffini
Style - Second Empire
Material - Local limestone
The only difference I could think of was that the Paint Rock one is set in a flat sorta dry setting where the Sonora one is set on a hill and not so dry looking.
I have always loved the Sonora Courthouse. Here is a picture of ALB and me in front of the Sonora Courthouse taken by Emily:
Nannie once told me that her father wagoned alot of the limestone in to make the Sonora courthouse. The census records state that he was a teamster.
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