He had a diverse career, including lead miner, lumberman, state senator, and California explorer.

[3] During the Civil War he commanded the 31st Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment.

[3] West built the current octagon house from 1860 to 1861, with walls of brick two stories high.

From the start, West's house included a progressive-for-the-time gravity plumbing system with lead pipes embedded in the walls, fed by a tank in the attic that is still present, and an "air conditioning" system which let air funnel from the cupola above into the rooms below.

[3] Orson Fowler of New York was the proponent of octagon houses, publishing a book on them in 1847.