dairyman George Runckles, who occupied the ranch and owned 72 head of 

 cattle. 180 



Apparently the transactions made by Jose de la Cruz Noriel were invalid, 

 for Mrs. Noriel's estate sold the ranch on August 20, 1888, to John Carter, 

 probably making Shippy's sale valid. Carter soon sold the ranch to David Myers 

 for $20,000; curiously, Myers had been found by the Marin County Superior 

 Court to be the grantee of Noriel's estate only a week after the decree of 

 distribution to Carter. Myers, born in Ireland, came to Marin County in 1865 

 and had a dairy in Novato for many years; he apparently operated the Noriel 

 ranch, eventually with co-owner (and brother-in-law) Gilbert Crandell, until 

 Myers' widow Mamie and Crandell and his wife Nellie sold the ranch to David 

 Bordessa of Tomales in 1918. 181 



Bordessa was a cattle dealer who owned a public house in Tomales, and 

 apparently had no personal interest in dairying on the new ranch. The ranch 

 was leased to Joseph Memeo in 1918 and then to Abramo Boccaleoni from 1921 

 until September 11, 1923, when Bordessa's son Rico and his cousin and partner 

 Salvatore Bordessa moved to the ranch and took over the dairy business. 

 Salvatore did not stay long, but Rico Bordessa took on the business alone, 

 milking forty to fifty cows by hand with the help of one hired man. Bordessa 

 separated the milk, selling the sweet cream to the Point Reyes Cooperative 

 Creamery. 182 



Bordessa made many improvements at the dairy in the mid-1930s. He 

 built a large Grade B milking barn on the site of the combination dairy and 

 bunkhouse, which he had moved across the yard in preparation for the new 

 construction. Only two years later Bordessa built a Grade A barn, leaving the 

 Grade B barn for hay storage and calves. He installed milking machines, 

 driving the vacuum pump with a gasoline engine in a separate machine shed. 

 Milk was cooled and put in cans until a tank was installed in the 1950s. 



'""Deeds Book 8, p. 300, Book O, p. 9, MCRO; "Official Map of Marin County," 1873, PRNS; 

 Guinn, Coast Counties, p. 1263. 



""Deeds Book 9, p. 55, and Book 196, p. 274, MCRO and collection of McFadden family; court 

 order of August 27, 1888 in "Abstract . . . Nelson Hotel"; Munro-Fraser, Marin County, p. 442; 

 interview with William J. Scilacci. 



182 Leases Book J, pp. 323, 333 and 492, MCRO. Information on the Bordessa and McFadden 

 years at the ranch from interviews with Rico Bordessa and Jim and Virginia (Bordessa) 

 McFadden, and the ranch ledger in the McFadden's possession. 



318 



