Winslow had built a house prior to his purchase, as early as 1856; he 

 planted crops and eventually developed a dairy after buying the property in 

 partnership with Barnaby. The land was mostly rolling, grassy hills, with a rich 

 section of bottomland next to Olema Creek. The partners located their 

 homestead near the creek, at the approximate location of the more recent 

 Truttman deer camp. 124 



Benjamin T. Winslow has been credited with founding and naming the 

 town of Olema at the northern end of his new property. Before September of 

 1857 Winslow built a combination hotel, store and saloon, called the Olema 

 House, and became the first postmaster when a post office was established on 

 February 28, 1859. Within a short time the town had a number of hotels, 

 saloons, service businesses and dwellings and became the dominant town in the 

 Point Reyes area for at least the next two decades. 125 



Both Winslow and Barnaby hailed from Massachusetts and came to 

 California with the Gold Rush. Winslow arrived in Bolinas in late 1849 as part 

 of a company contracted to supply wharf timbers to San Francisco, then found 

 his way to Garcia's rancho. After purchasing their Olema Valley property 

 Winslow and Barnaby may have divided their responsibilities, i.e., Winslow 

 developed the hotel and post office and Barnaby the farm. However, both were 

 listed as farmers in the 1860 census. The dairy farm produced 1500 pounds of 

 butter the previous year, and the rich bottom lands produced sixty bushels of 

 winter wheat, 1,000 bushels of oats, 600 bushels of barley, 2,000 bushels of Irish 

 potatoes and 40 tons of hay. Winslow, married with one child, owned 15 horses, 

 while Barnaby, a single man, owned only three. Seven men, including Point 

 Reyes pioneer Frank Miller, were employed at or around the farm in mid- 

 1860. 126 



The partners split their holdings in October of 1860, Winslow keeping 

 170 acres of the northern part and Barnaby selling his 400 acres to Samuel Nay, 



and sold the smaller property to Winslow after the Olds purchase. 



124 Qp. Cit.; Agriculture Schedules, 8th U. S. Census, 1860; Plat of Rancho Tomales y Baulines, 

 1858, PRNS. 



125 Deeds. Book C, p. 144, MCRO; Jack Mason, Earthquake Bay: A History of Tomales Bay. 

 California (Inverness: North Shore Books, 1976, p. 78. 



' 26 Population and Agriculture Schedules, 8th U. S. Census, 1860; Munro-Fraser, Marin County. 

 p. 267. Frank Miller lived to an old age in Olema operating a blacksmith shop. 



242 



