G. Pioneer Dairies in the Olema Valley 



1. California Dairy Development to 1857 



Dairy farming is one of the most important industries 

 in the civilized countries of the world, and health, 

 wealth, and prosperity of a country is largely denoted 

 by the extent and condition of its activity. e 



, 64 



The effect of the 1849-50 Gold Rush on the once-sleepy territory/state of 

 California has been well documented, as thousands of people converged on the 

 San Francisco Bay area seeking their fortunes. Along with the immigrants 

 came a need for food, particularly dairy products. According to the 1850 census, 

 only 705 pounds of butter and 150 pounds of cheese were produced in the state 

 that year. Miners in the Sierra foothills relied on small dairies based in the 

 San Joaquin Valley, who in the spring would drive their cows to the mountains, 

 bringing along the necessary dairy utensils to make butter and cheese. These 

 nomadic dairies stayed until the October frosts, when the herds and wagons 

 returned to the valley. The dairies reportedly made products of good quality, as 

 the demand (and prices) were high. 65 



San Franciscans, on the other hand, initially made do with butter 

 imported from the east coast or Chile, salted and packed in firkins and, in the 

 case of the Chilean product (according to a contemporary correspondent), 

 "partaking strongly of the character of hog's lard, which we always believed to 

 be one of its principal ingredients." The East Coast butter was not much 

 better, as it often emitted a "most ancient and fish-like smell." 61 



By 1854 dairies in Sonoma and Santa Clara Counties provided fresh 

 butter and cheese to San Francisco. Milk, highly perishable, could only be 

 produced in or near the city itself, whereas butter could withstand a day's 

 journey and cheese even more under reasonable conditions. Sonoma County 

 proved to be the city's major supplier of butter and cheese until 1862, when 



64 R. G. Sneath, "Dairying in California" (Overland Monthly. January-June, 1888), p. 387. 



65 Compendium of the Ninth Census, compiled by Francis A. Walker, Sup't of Census. 

 Washington: Government Printing Office, 1872, p. 711; Sneath, "Dairying in California," p. 387. 



66 



"Toogood, Civil History, p. 94; San Francisco Daily Alta California. May 25, 1854, p. 2. 



39 



