Upon his departure Olds rented his house to a Mr. Risdon. Ridson's wife 

 Carrie and three children lived in the house in June of 1880. Eldest daughter 

 Lizzie was the schoolteacher at nearby Olema School at Five Brooks. 114 



The Olds ranch continued to produce butter under Pacifico Donati, 

 although Enrico Dellamaria left the partnership in 1883. At the end of 1884 

 County Sheriff George Mason, married to Nelson Olds' daughter Kate, leased 

 the ranch and anticipated a general remodeling of the "old homestead," building 

 a new butter house "with all the late improvements, probably with Concord 

 floor and walls." Mason retired from public service and moved to the ranch in 

 November, and by the next spring the newspaper noted that "it would take a 

 whale of an office to lure him from his ranch home." 1 



George Mason, born in Maine in 1841, spent seven years as a seaman 

 before settling in Marin County in the 1860s. He operated a dairy in Novato for 

 many years until becoming a conductor on the North Pacific Coast Railroad 

 upon its opening in 1875. While running for Sheriff in 1879 the San Rafael 

 newspaper described him in this way: "He has the muscle and courage which 

 are requisite in the Sheriffs office, has good abilities, and his friends are 

 legion." He was elected to the office in early September, 1879. 116 



Mason married Nelson Olds' daughter Kate in 1877 and the couple 

 resided in San Rafael until their move to the Olema Valley. The Masons 

 purchased the ranch from Lavina Olds on February 24, 1890, and proceeded to 

 develop the ranch into a premium dairy. 117 



The Masons moved to Petaluma and sold the ranch on October 17, 1900, 

 to John Calvin Dickson, one of the pioneering Dickson brothers who had settled 

 San Geronimo Valley in central Marin County in the 1850s. Dickson retired 

 soon after the purchase and his son Robert Edwin "Ed" Dickson took over the 

 ranch, having gained experience after a number of years operating Charles 

 Webb Howard's A Ranch near the Point Reyes Lighthouse. 



" 4 Ibid.. September 11, 1879; Population Schedules of the 10th U. S. Census, 1880. 



" 5 Marin County Journal. August 23, 1883 and April 10, 1884; Marin Journal. November 20 

 1884 and April 4, 1885. 



116 Munro-Fraser, Marin County, p. 471; Marin County Journal. June 26 and September 4, 

 1879. 



117 Munro-Fraser, Marin County, p. 471; Marin County Journal. April 10, 1884; Deeds Book 11, 

 p. 299 and Book 16, p. 615, MCRO. 



216 



