My life has been filled with many wonderful people that formed a mold that shaped the "Who I am" today.
The years that passed during my journey to reaching the plateau of being a teenager were filled with people that had worked their entire adult lives on the Plymouth Ranch. The property had been purchased by my Great Grandfather and a couple of partners from Plymouth Land and Livestock Company, a company that had roots in Seattle in 1911-1912.
I realize that my parents, grandparents, and a few other relatives had the largest influence in my life until I graduated from high school. There were other influences that came from the people that worked on the ranch as part of the "ranch family"contributing their knowledge and opinions.
Gottfried Rolfs was the blacksmith that "owned the shop". The shop was his domain, his life, his working space, and his art gallery. It was a place filled with equipment and tools of the trade necessary to keep a ranch running. The shop was very well equipped for the requirements of ranching and farming before the wide spread use of tractors and rubber tired equipment. Line drives that powered the drill press, drop hammer, large band saw, tire setter, and 4 ft diameter wet stone was mounted on one of the trusses. The system was typical for the era and allowed many machines to be powered by a single electric motor. The sounds of it running and the long fiber belts slapping together in a unique rhythm are all a memory now. There was a hitching rack and wood floor in one area close to the forge used for the horseshoeing.
The time I spent in the shop watching the iron being heated and shaped into gate hinges, gate latches, and other items such as branding irons was fascinating. Gottfried tried to teach me about his skills even though his tolerance for kids was somewhat limited. I wish I had learned more. The ability to recognize the importance of taking the opportunity to learn is something that is acquired over time. The sounds of the hammer pounding hot metal on the anvil had a definite cadence that still rings in my ears. I remember him forming horseshoes for the Belgian horses my grandfather still raised and trained to drive. He held up those very big hooves to trim, rasp, and install shoes even though he had a badly damaged leg. His place at the table in the cookhouse dining room was not to be taken, even in his short absence at times.
Gottfried worked on the Plymouth Ranch for more than 25 years, it was his ranch as much as anyones. He was born in Germany in 1902 and migrated to the USA alone and never saw his family again. He died in 1966. He enjoyed some hellacious days of getting drunk a couple times a year and smoked Lucky Strike cigarettes.
The building still stands and is built entirely of brick. The walls are four bricks thick and sixteen feet high. The huge wood trusses are all built with 2"X12" (yes full 2"X12") that is clear (not one knot).
Sometimes I stand in the shop and just quietly enjoy the memories. M
