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Bulletin, Progressive, Record, Reporter
Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2011 1B
o ~t
vtstt to
:: INSIDIE SECTI~ B: EDITORIAL AND OPINION * UPCOMING EVENTS i
0
DI. H S P H i 11
A blast from
i, the past: this
sign will take
older readers
back in time.
/ West has a sign
'/ advertising Blue
Chip stamps as well.
1
:?
Tim West checks for mail at his 1927 Model T mailbox. The car originally brought his mom and
dad, Red and Mildred West, to Quincy. Photo by Mike Taborski
Mona Hill
Staff Writer
mhill@plumasnews.com
Tim West can't remember
learning to milk a cow.
He lives with his w'ff.e of 30
years, Shawndra, on the
family ranch, West's Ranch,
at the Elizabethtown mnp-
site, in a large, lovely and
modern house. The house
looks out over the ranch and
into the American Valley on
the other side of the highway.
His daughter Kelsey and
her family live in the old
ranch house, where he and
his sisters and brother were
born and grew up. Daughter
Brianne lives next door at the
old Tibbedeaux house.
Milking, ranching and
. living - nty are
all he's ever wanted tp do.
Old tractors, hay rakes and
cars dot the hillside near the
house-- some pretty :cool, old
stuff is out there, left from his
dad's, Red West's, days.
Rod's youngest son caught
the same bug; in fact, you
could say Tim West runs
Quincy's other museum.
West laughs a lot and loves
to tell stories about growing
uP on the ranch.
His mom and dad, Red and
Mildred West, married when
Red Came out of the service
in the 1940s. They came to
Plumas County, bought the
ranch and started raising a
family.
When the house grew too
small for them, Red began to
dig out a basement under the
house, dynamiting the soil
loose as he went. Mildred
would grab the kids when
he'd holler and get out of the
house. Then he'd light the
stick of dynamite. After the
dust settled, he'd back the old
Model T up, shovel out the
loose dirt and start all over
again.
Red owned the Richfield
For 20 years Red West owned
the Atlantic Richfield gas
station in Quinc~,, located'
where the Unocal station is
today. Henry Moser and
Robert Foley worked with him
for much of that time. This old
gas pump dates from the early
days.
The giant bolt and pulley are remnants of Elizabethtown,s
mining days; the tractor seat is a leftover from Red West's time.
Young Jabin idolizes his grandpa and the feeling is definitely mutual.
service station that sat at the
corner of Lawrence and High-
way 70 for 20 years. Henry
Moser and Robert Foley
worked with him for years
and they enjoyed many a
practical joke during that
time.
Tim tells of the times they'd
pass a jug of full strength am-
monia to unsuspecting souls
after the trio had "sniffed" it
and asked if it smelled all
right. Naturally, they'd held
their breath, but their 1~, ....
less victims wouldn't and
their eyes and noses would
stream.
Red was a tinkerer as well:
he devised a butter churn
from an old treadle sewing
machine. He converted the
Model T to a truck and
generally repurposed and
recycled before it became the
thing to do.
Son Tim says his dad never
threw anything away.
When I went out to visit
with West, my boss said to
turn at the mailbox -- the
same 1927 Model T Red and
Mildred drove.
The first thing that caught
Treasures of the past dot the Wests' garden landscape. This tri-
cycle is a real honey -- it's almost possible to see the young
child who rode it so long ago. Photos by Mona Hill
my eye at the house was the
old "We give S&H Green
Stamps" sign on the garage.
That took me right back,
because it was a big treat to
~et to lick the stamps and
place them in the books when
I was a girl.
When people had enough
stamps, they could redeem
them for stuff they otherwise
couldn't afford: toasters,
coffeemakersl etc.
West also has a sign for
See West, page 6B
It's obvious visitors are on the road to somewhere special
although the road is not as long as the signs suggest.
when they turn onto 1955 Chevy Drive,
Built by "Mr. Purdy/' who sold his interest in the ranch to Red and Mildred in the 1940s, this outbuild-
ing is adorned with memories from West's childhood, including the toboggan the West kids used.