on the property. Cronin ran but was lassooed by Pablo Briones and taken to 

 trial. The southernmost gulch on the McCurdy Ranch is called Cronin Gulch. 24 



The woodcutting operation took up much of the partners' time, although 

 they were listed as farmers in the 1870 census. McMullin was 40 at the time 

 and had a wife, Mary, and seven children; an eighth would come the next year. 

 They lived in a house on a knoll on the western, 80-acre parcel, with an 

 orchard. McCurdy, 32, was unmarried at the time, and lived with his brother 

 John. McCurdy and McMullin owned 16 milk cows and 24 oxen, no doubt used 

 in the logging operation; they had no crops but hay, and made 800 pounds of 

 butter the previous year. In 1870 Sarah Randall, McMullin and McCurdy's 

 neighbor to the north, leased a right-of-way to the duo for hauling wood off the 

 ridge. They rented the dairy on the property to other parties, including James 

 Pedrotti in 1875; Pedrotti took possession of the "Hill" ranch with 80 cows and 

 heifers at $18 per head rent. McMullin and McCurdy retained the right to take 

 wood from the property. In September of 1885 McMullin rented his farm to 

 Frank Foster and moved to Oakland. He sold his share of the land to McCurdy 

 in 1890. 25 



By 1900 McCurdy had married and had seven children. He had built a 

 substantial two-story house on a knoll near the county road, and with his sons 

 operated the dairy, making 2,100 pounds of butter per month from 60 cows in 

 1901. The McCurdy orchard produced apples, cherries and pears. Lumbering 

 continued on the ranch; in 1904 Achille Bonaiti, a storekeeper in Bolinas, ran a 

 sawmill on the McCurdy ranch. His mill reportedly produced 18,000 to 20,000 

 feet of redwood lumber per year. At an unknown date a dam was installed in 

 Cronin Gulch to collect and distribute y;ater to Bolinas. 26 



The Marin Journal described the McCurdy Ranch in early 1906: 



The McCurdy Ranch is one of the best equipped dairy 

 ranches in the county. They have good buildings and 

 the dairy machinery is run by electric power which is 



24 Marin County Journal. May 9, 1868; Mrs. Cronin's murder is detailed in Munro-Fraser, 

 Marin County, pp. 242-243. 



25 Population and Agriculture Schedules, 9th U. S. Census, 1870; Leases Book A, p. 72 and 

 Book B, p. 387, MCRO; Marin Journal. September 10, 1885 and July 31, 1890. 



26 Population Schedules, 12th U. S. Census, 1900; Marin Journal. June 20, 1901; Guinn, Coast 

 Counties, p. 1450. 



106 



