A History Lesson for Placerville: Gas Stations from the Past

This post for today is an unusual blogpost for my blog. Normally I would write about a new business or a visit to a business, but this one is in fact about three old gas stations in Placerville that don't even operate anymore and haven't for over 50 years. 

The reason why I am telling you about these gas stations is because I have businessmen from my family tree. I visited one of those men, my great great uncle Harold Beaver, preferably known as "Red", at his house in Placerville. He was the owner of  three stations at three different times.

I'm going to give you a history lesson about the gas stations.  On Labor Day 1958, Uncle Red opened his first station as the Mohawk Gas Station at Perks Corner near where the County Fleet Yard is today. When he opened this station, he was pumping 100 gallons of gas a day.  He bought the gas station for only $3,200 and had a loan for $3,500 which left him with $300 to make it work. This would sound like a really good deal today.

Uncle Harold's father, David Beaver was a blacksmith and advertised in one of the local papers with Red's station at Perk's Corner as a point of reference for directions.

Red's son Ed Beaver remembers when Red worked at the gas station, in 1959, "the circus came to town and the trucks broke down and the elephants pulled the trucks up the hill," according to Ed.

His shop over time became more of a convenience store with soda pop, bread, candy, milk, etc. My Grandma Laura, who is Red's niece, says she "remembers the Coke machine at the station, which was one of the few times her family bought soda pop."

He ran that gas station until January 1st 1962. After that he opened a gas station at the El Dorado Y where Mother Lode Dr and Pleasant Valley Road intersect. He opened that gas station in March 1962 and ran it until 1970. My Grandma also remembers this gas station because her father, Lee Beaver who was Red's brother, worked at Red's gas station. "I remember  the lemondrop candies at the station." says Laura.

He closed the El Dorado Y station in 1970. My Aunt Susie Van Sant, who is my Grandma's sister, remembers when they were building the new U.S. 50 and when the freeway was finished, Red's shop would struggle and would have to close. 

After he closed that station, he took over a gas station on Main Street called the Flying A's Gas Station which he ran from July 1970 to December 31st 1972. My Grandpa Darryl Boyster, who is Laura's husband, remembers during that brief time when "Grandma was buying gas for only 36 cents at the station." 

Red left the gas station enterprise in 1972 and he sold 600 gallons a day and  42 cases of Pepsi a week when he left Flying A's .

When I visited with Red, he told me that his favorite memory at the gas stations was " that he enjoyed working with the public."  

I loved seeing Red Beaver and his son Ed Beaver at Red's house talking about his gas stations from the past. It was definitely a good history lesson of our town's past.

Thank You for reading my blogpost and I hope you enjoyed it.