Yesterday, a big rig hauling a trailer clipped and toppled Weed’s iconic totem pole, sending the 32-foot redwood landmark crashing across a supermarket parking lot. The pole had stood outside the town’s grocery store for more than half a century and was a regular photo stop for travelers headed toward Mount Shasta. Photos shared by local authorities show the carved sculpture fully knocked over and badly chewed up by the impact. Whether the pole will be repaired, replaced or quietly retired is still an open question.
How the crash unfolded
Weed police say officers were called a little after 11 PM to the parking lot of Ray’s Food Place, where they found a big rig had collided with the totem pole and knocked it to the ground. The driver handed over the trucking company's insurance information while officers documented the scene and photographed the damage. Initial images released by the department show the pole on its side with obvious fractures and splintering. Officials are still assessing the sculpture’s condition and have not yet said whether any citations or charges will follow. As reported by CBS Sacramento, the crash occurred late Tuesday night.
A 1962 roadside landmark
The totem was commissioned in 1962 to mark the opening of what was originally a Safeway and was carved as a midcentury promotional piece, the kind of roadside attention-grabber that once dotted Western highways. Local reporting traces the work to West Coast carver Barney West, known for tiki and totem carvings in the Bay Area and for working from massive redwood logs. The RoadsideAmerica guide dates the sculpture to 1962, while Siskiyou News notes it is among West’s largest public pieces. At roughly 32 feet tall and positioned near U.S. 97, it was hard to miss and quickly became a familiar pull-over spot for motorists.
Where the pole fits in town history
Weed takes its name from Abner Weed, a lumber mill founder whose operation shaped the town’s early identity, and over the decades the totem pole worked its way into that story as a sort of quirky roadside mascot. The town’s name has long been a magnet for attention and the occasional prank, including the frequent theft of its highway exit sign, a detail reporters were quick to revive while covering the pole’s fall. For many locals, the sculpture was an odd but dependable landmark at the crossroads of logging history, grocery runs and tourist traffic. The College of the Siskiyous provides background on the town’s name and history, while CBS Sacramento reported on the collapse and shared photos from the Weed Police Department.
What comes next
City staff, the grocery owner and preservation specialists now have to decide whether the pole can be salvaged, stabilized or needs to be removed entirely, a process that could take days. Local historians point out that the piece is a recognizable part of Weed’s midcentury roadside identity, and say any plan will have to balance safety concerns, structural reality and the pole’s historical value. For the moment, the fallen sculpture remains in the parking lot as officials and residents sort through what to do with the town’s battered landmark.
