neighbor (Giovanni Giacomini owned the adjacent ranch during the late 1860s). 

 The couple eventually had eight children: Romilda, Onellia (Nellie), Claudina, 

 Olympia, Willie, Alma, Samuel and Katherine. The Mazzas first lived in a small 

 house, then built a two-story building with a creamery below and living 

 quarters above. After gaining some profit from the dairy, Mazza built a 

 substantial house in 1886 overlooking Lagunitas Creek. The older houses 

 remained, the original one being attached to the new house. Mazza had also 

 built a large milking barn a few years earlier. He inscribed his name and the 

 year on beams in the barn and house. 193 



Mazza's son Samuel worked on the ranch until he purchased the business 

 for himself around 1906. He leased the ranch from his mother and siblings, as 

 recorded in a lease dated 1920. Samuel Mazza's dairy was described in a 

 contemporary biography in 1924: 



He gives special attention to dairy farming, keeping 

 between eighty and ninety head of high-grade Jersey 

 cows. He keeps pure-bred sires and is gradually 

 improving the quality of the herd. He raises general 

 crops and this year has the finest field of corn in 

 Marin County, due to the fact that, though it is a dry 

 year, he has irrigated his field. He also has a splendid 

 crop of stock beets for the cattle. He employs modern 

 methods in the operation of the farm, maintains it at 

 the highest state of improvement, and is regarded as 

 one of the most progressive farmers of the district. 194 



Mazza kept up the old family buildings, and in 1923 built a house near the old 

 horse barn. Members of the Mazza family lived here during the subsequent 

 years. 



In 1932 Mazza rented the ranch to Pete Poiani, his wife and stepson 

 Louis Zanardi. After Poiani's death Zanardi and his mother bought the ranch 

 from Mazza in the late 1930s; Mazza died in 1948. Mrs. Poiani and Louis 

 Zanardi ran the dairy, building a Grade A sanitary barn in 1947 and shipping 

 whole milk beginning in April of that year. At that time about 110 cows were 

 milked, a number gradually increased to 160. Zanardi took over the business 



Munro-Fraser, Marin County, p.436; Cross, Financing an Empire, p. 527; interviews with 

 Pat Martin and Louis Bloom. 



194 Leases Book J, p. 424, MCRO; Cross, Financing an Empire, pp. 527-528. 



338 



