A. WILKINS RANCH 

 Rancho Baulines 

 (Golden Gate National Recreation Area) 



1. Description 



The Wilkins Ranch, called Rancho Baulines by its occupants for the last 

 two decades, is a gem of vernacular architecture and in a rural setting: the 

 white farmhouse and outbuildings sit on a knoll surrounded by green fields at 

 the head of Bolinas Lagoon, acting as a picturesque welcoming scene to the 

 northern section of Golden Gate National Recreation Area and Point Reyes 

 National Seashore. The Wilkins family owned the ranch for more than a 

 century and little has changed on the exterior from its original state. The 

 1,397-acre ranch is composed of grassland, brush and forest, stretching from 

 Bolinas Lagoon and Wilkins Gulch to the top of Bolinas Ridge. The ranch is 

 bounded on the north by the former McCurdy/Righetti Ranch in GGNRA, on 

 the east by lands of the Marin Municipal Water District, on the south by the 

 Fairfax-Bolinas Road and the former Bourne Ranch (now Audubon Canyon 

 Ranch), and on the west by State Route One and Bolinas Lagoon. 



2. History of the Wilkins Ranch 



The story of the Wilkins Ranch begins with the timbering and sawmill 

 operations at Dogtown, a tiny village on the northwestern corner of the ranch. 

 A party of "Forty-niners" led by James Hough arrived at Bolinas Lagoon late in 

 849 with the intent to log the rich valleys of the area and export wharf timbers 

 to the fast-growing new city, San Francisco. Gregorio Briones and Rafael Garcia 

 sold exclusive timber rights to Hough, P. G. Hatch and Joaquin Armas "to fell, 

 saw and otherwise make use of all the timber now standing on the rancho or 

 farm" [Rancho las Baulines], for a period of 10 years. The deed also granted the 

 right to "make roads, wharfs, mill houses, barns or other improvements . . . 

 without paying for the timber." The agreement included the right to graze 

 cattle and horses. Hough and his partners agreed to pay Briones and Garcia 

 either one tenth of the profits from sale of the lumber or "one third part of all 

 boards, shingles, joists or other lumber that they . . . shall cut, split or saw." 



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