F. Ranches in Transition 



1. Rancho las Ban lines 



According to available tax schedules and records, Gregorio Briones fared 

 well for nearly a decade after the American takeover. The agricultural schedule 

 for Marin County in the 1850 United States census shows that Briones claimed 

 possession of 13,230 unimproved acres (4,409 more than granted as Rancho 

 Baulenes in 1846), 50 horses, 300 other cattle and 15 swine, with a value of 

 $10,000 on his farm and $4,500 on his livestock. The 1854 county tax records 

 indicated that Briones had built a new house and had added 100 sheep and 

 goats to his property, helping to raise his total valuation to $833,414, more than 

 three times that of 1850. 



The 1860 United States Census, however, revealed the Briones family's 

 material losses during the latter part of the 1850s. According to agricultural 

 schedule, four family members together owned less property than many of the 

 new settlers. Gregorio apparently had given charge of his lands to his children, 

 for he was not included in the 1860 schedule. He died on May 16, 1863. 38 



Gregorio Briones had filed his claim to two square leagues of Rancho Las 

 Baulines on January 31, 1853. More than one year later, on May 15, 1854, the 

 Land Commissioners confirmed his title, but the District Court process held up 

 the final validation of his claim until April 2, 1857, when Briones officially 

 became owner of the 8,911. 34-acre rancho, as surveyed by the United States 

 Deputy Surveyor, Robert C. Matthewson, in October of 1858. 39 



38 California, U. S. Census 1850, Partial Schedules, Schedule 4, Productions of Agriculture, 

 Marin County, p. 15; Marin County Assessments, 2 Volumes, 2: 1954-1955, p. 256, on microfilm at 

 Bancroft Library; 8th U. S. Census, 1860, Products of Agriculture, Bolinas Township, pp. 23-26; 

 "Chronological History of Marin County," 1: n.p. 



39 Munro-Fraser, Marin County, p. 194, quotes from Judge Ogden Hoffman's Report of Land 

 Cases Determined in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California which 

 he published in 1862, having been the principal judge presiding in the district court in San 

 Francisco. Robinson, Land in California, p. 263; "Plat of the Rancho Los Baulines finally 

 confirmed to Gregorio Briones ... by Robert C. Matthewson, Deputy Surveyor, October 1858, 

 Containing 8911 34/100 acres." A copy of the plat is in Patent Book A., p. 157, MCRO. Jack 

 Mason in Last Stage for Bolinas (Inverness: North Shore Books, 1973), p. 15, wrote that R. C. 

 Matthewson surveyed the Bolinas rancho in October 1858 and found it contained four square 

 leagues, not two, but the 8911 34/100 acres indicated on the above plat equals two leagues. The 

 1858 plat showed five American residences on the east side of Bolinas Lagoon and a steam saw 

 mill located near the road on the northeastern portion (Dogtown area) of the rancho. 



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