J. TRUTTMAN RANCH 

 Former Bloom Ranch 

 (Golden Gate National Recreation Area) 



1. Description 



The 1170-acre Truttman Ranch, historically known as the Baldwin Ranch 

 and Bloom Ranch, lies to the east of Olema Creek and south of the small town 

 of Olema. Successful dairy businesses operated here from at least 1858 to 1974; 

 beef cattle now graze the pastures. The ranch land is mostly grassy, with 

 wooded gulches on the Bolinas Ridge slope and fir/oak forests covering the 

 southwestern corner. 



The ranch's dairy complex consists of about five acres on a wide knoll on 

 the west side of Highway One near the western center of the ranch. Until 

 recently it consisted of a typical dairy layout with two dwellings and a 

 bunkhouse, a hay barn, a Grade A dairy, a horse barn, various sheds, remains of 

 an old orchard, and numerous corrals and fences; many of these historic 

 structures were removed in February 1994 under the orders of Point Reyes 

 National Seashore Superintendent John Sansing. 



2. History of the Truttman Ranch 



The Truttman Ranch grew out of at least three different landholdings 

 that made up the north, central and south parts of the ranch. All three 

 sections had working farms on them, of which only the central one remains. 

 First, Rafael Garcia sold 357 acres south of his hacienda (near Olema) to Victor 

 B. Post on Christmas day, 1855. Post, a partner of Samuel P. Taylor in the 

 development of the Pioneer Paper Mill on nearby Lagunitas Creek, soon resold 

 a number of parcels in the Olema Valley; those that made up the central and 

 south portions of the Truttman Ranch were included in these transactions. 

 Garcia then sold what would become the northern portion to Daniel and Nelson 

 Olds in 1856; then, on September 23, 1857, the Olds brothers sold the 574 acres 

 to Benjamin T. Winslow and Stephen Barnaby. 123 



123 Deeds Book C, p. 46, 66 and 144, MCRO. According to Jeremiah Olds, Garcia would not sell 

 Winslow the small tract adjacent to Olema that he desired, so Nelson Olds bought his large tract 



241 



