local populace and the patriotic deeds of the immigrants. One correspondent 

 wrote of the typical dairy tenant in 1886: 



His children are educated at the district school. He 

 adorns his premises with trees and flowers and the 

 sound of the piano and parlor organ is heard in the 

 land. He pays his rent-be it $22.50 or $25 per cow- 

 semi-annually, does his duty by his neighbor, and lives 

 like what he is--an honest, intelligent country 

 gentleman. 73 



5. Early Transportation in the Olema Valley Area 



Early dairymen and their families faced substantial odds in transporting 

 their goods to market in San Francisco. Ocean travel dominated Point Reyes 

 commerce for the entire 19th century, although the construction of a narrow 

 gauge railroad in 1875 improved the reliability and lessened the risks of 

 transport to the dairymen in reasonable proximity to the depots. Overland 

 travel, common for trips to the local towns, was not a favored method until 

 highway improvements commenced in the 1920s, although the Olds family of 

 Olema preferred to travel overland to Petaluma, then by schooner to the city, 

 thus avoiding an ocean voyage. 74 



Geography, natural resources and existing transportation routes 

 determined the location of new towns in the area. One of the oldest towns in 

 Marin County, Bolinas, was founded in 1849 as a shipping point for lumber 

 taken out of the Bolinas Lagoon area. A nearby settlement and location of the 

 lumber mills, Dogtown (renamed Woodville in 1870), failed to grow and 

 remained an obscure outpost. These areas were reached by a trail from San 

 Rafael that crossed Bolinas Ridge above the Weeks Ranch. Olema, founded in 

 1857 by hotel keeper/rancher Benjamin Winslow, became the hub of Point 

 Reyes commerce, with hotels, saloons, services, and a scheduled stagecoach 

 service. Travelers approached the village on a trail over the ridge, passing the 

 paper mill. Olema lost its prominence with the coming in 1875 of the North 



73 Maria Waterman, in San Francisco Chronicle. October 30, 1886. 



74 Jeremiah Stanley Olds, "Recollections of Woodside," February 18, 1939, handwritten 

 manuscript in Boyd Stewart Collection. 



43 



