to leave a courtroom emptyhanded, the Shatters were rewarded with the huge 

 13,644.66-acre Phelps patent, called a portion of Tomales y Baulines, which 

 covered all of the land between Garcia's Olema Valley and the summit of Mt. 

 Tamalpais to the southeast, including the rich timber lands of the upper 

 Lagunitas Canyon, as well as some 1,800 acres of Briones' land, that would 

 become the McCurdy Ranch. 42 



The difference of 605 acres in Garcia's grant probably reflected the 

 disparity between the written grant (2 leagues or roughly 8,880 acres) and the 

 actual survey of the rancho boundaries performed at the juridical possession of 

 the land. Garcia's 1865 plat, however, indicated the extent to which his lands 

 had been sold to Americans, probably to pay his endless legal expenses from 

 over a decade in court. 



Since 1849 Garcia had leased land to various parties for logging, lime 

 production, and grazing and farming. On Christmas Day, 1855, Garcia began 

 selling off most of Rancho Tomales y Baulines, in a transaction with Victor 

 Post, a partner in Samuel P. Taylor's paper mill which was being constructed 

 on Garcia's property. Less than a year later, on September 25, 1856, Garcia 

 sold a parcel which consisted of 4,366 acres in the Olema Valley to Daniel and 

 Nelson Olds. The parcel represented nearly half of Garcia's land, which he sold 

 at less than two dollars per acre. 43 



The following year, in 1857, Garcia sold to John Nelson and William E. 

 Randall another 1,400 acres just south of the Olds tract in Olema Valley, for 

 $2,000, again accepting less than $2 per acre. He began to sell lots in Olema 

 and there a town was established. Thus, before his title had been finally 

 confirmed Garcia had relinquished nearly sixty percent of his holdings. In fact, 

 the site of Garcia's hacienda on the west side of Olema Creek ended up in the 

 final surveys as part of Rancho Punta de los Reyes. Rafael Garcia had little 

 time to deal with this, as he died on February 25, 1866, only four months after 

 he received his official survey and patent to the rancho. Garcia left his 

 remaining 3,089 acres north and east of Olema, as well as six town lots in 

 Olema, to his wife and seven other heirs. Garcia's adobe reportedly fell in the 



^Mason, Early Marin. pp. 142-143; "Plat of the Rancho Tomales y Baulines Finally Confirmed 

 to Rafael Garcia," 1865. 



"Deeds Book C, pp. 46, 66 and 144, MCRO; "Abstract of Title and Certificate of Search, Part of 

 the Rancho Tomales y Baulinas," compiled for James McMillan Shafter, collection of PRNS. 



30 



