Shatters' business and political connections and social stature in San Francisco? 

 Or was the butter quality indeed high enough to deserve its praise and prices? 

 The Merchant's point about soils and climate brings up the fact that Point 

 Reyes climate and soils were indeed different, both with increased moisture and 

 entirely different soil conditions on the west side of the San Andreas Fault that 

 increased production and quality. In addition, Point Reyes did not always 

 command the highest prices, as stated in the Marin Journal's rebuttal to the 

 San Francisco Merchant's editorial: 



We think it is an open question whether Point Reyes 

 dairymen do obtain higher prices than others in this 

 county. We know butter men in Olema, Nicasio, 

 Marshall and Tomales, who claim that their product, 

 placed side by side with Point Reyes, sells first, and at 

 the same price; and they are reliable men. Point 

 Reyes has become a synonym for gilt-edge butter, and 

 deservedly so, but we are not clear that it outranks 

 other places in this county . . . , 102 



By the 1920s, Point Reyes dairymen marketed cream rather than butter, as 

 members of the Point Reyes Cooperative Creamery. Grade A market milk was 

 sold through contracts with large creameries. 



7. Government Dairy Regulation 



During the first four decades of dairying in Marin County few if any laws 

 regulating sanitation or product quality existed. While by 1888, English dairies 

 operated under strict medical and scientific supervision, and the State of New 

 York spent some $75,000 per year on dairy supervision, California adopted no 

 regulations or means of sanitary or quality control supervision. 103 



Before the turn of the century, California began to follow national trends 

 of using science to improve production and quality. California Governor James 

 H. Budd appointed a temporary three-person State Dairy Bureau in 1895 and 

 made the organization permanent in 1897. In 1906, the San Francisco Medical 



102 Ibid. 



103 Sneath, "Dairying in California," pp. 394-95. 



60 



