M. BEAR VALLEY (W) RANCH 



Point Reyes National Seashore Headquarters 

 (Point Reyes National Seashore) 



1. Description 



One of the largest and most famed Point Reyes and Olema Valley 

 ranches is the Bear Valley Ranch, which now acts as the administration 

 headquarters, visitor center, and major trailhead for visitors to the Point Reyes 

 National Seashore. Given the letter W in the Shatter dairy organization of the 

 1860s, the proximity of the ranch to Olema (less than a mile) held it in the 

 public eye for all of its history. The scenery at Bear Valley is among the finest 

 in California, and its resources have long been exploited and enjoyed by man. 

 Long a favorite destination for tourists coming by train, stagecoach and 

 automobile, Bear Valley remains a prominent and popular area in Marin 

 County. 



For the most of this century the Bear Valley Ranch consisted of four 

 dairy ranches, U, W, Y, and Z. The W designation dropped from use around the 

 turn of the century and eventually Bear Valley Ranch stood to mean the whole 

 area of the aforementioned ranches. These ranches are separated for individual 

 history study in this report. The 7739-acre ranch, including the smaller dairies, 

 stretched from Olema and Tomales Bay on the east to the Pacific Ocean and 

 Drakes Bay on the west. Bounded on the north and south by the lands of 

 James McMillan Shafter, delineated by a series of ridges adjacent to the Laguna 

 Ranch to the north and Bear Valley Creek and Coast Creek to the south. The 

 land is practically mountainous, with the highest peak on the Point Reyes 

 Peninsula, Mt. Wittenberg, as the central geographic feature of the ranch. 

 Forested hills spotted with meadows characterize the eastern portion of the 

 ranch, while brush- and grass-covered ridges and gulches pour down to a 

 spectacular Pacific shoreline on the west. 



The ranch complex is located near the foot of Mt. Wittenberg a half-mile 

 from Olema on Bear Valley Road. It consists of a large red hay barn, three 

 residences for ranch workers (two of which have been converted to offices), a 

 horse barn, and maintenance facilities. On a hill nearby, past the current 

 visitor center, is a later complex of buildings constructed for the pleasure of the 

 wealthy owners of this century: a house, garage/apartment, and horse barn. 



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