R. McISAAC RANCH 



Former Codoni Ranch 



(Golden Gate National Recreation Area) 



1. Description 



The Donald Mclsaac Ranch is located at a former railroad stop called 

 Tocaloma, on Lagunitas (or Papermill) Creek a short distance east of Olema. 

 The main ranch complex sits on a small plot northeast of the creek, the 

 buildings clustered tightly together due to the shortage of level land. In 

 addition, a historic ranch dwelling sits on a hillside west of the main ranch, and 

 a converted dairy house, now a home, is located on the old railroad grade by 

 Lagunitas Creek north of Tocaloma. The ranch itself is composed of two 

 parcels totalling 1,073 acres; the smaller west parcel is a mixture of grassland 

 and woodland running west over the ridgeline, and the east section is mostly 

 grassland on steep rolling hills culminating at the top of a high ridge 

 overlooking the Nicasio Valley. The ranch is bounded on the north by the 

 McFadden and Zanardi Ranches, on the east by private property and the Cheda 

 Ranch, on the south by the Cheda Ranch, the former Jewell Ranch, and the 

 former Mclsaac/Ferro (Damazio) Ranch and on the west by the former Clorindo 

 Bloom Ranch. Sir Francis Drake Highway marks most of the southern border 

 of the ranch, and Lagunitas Creek and Platform Bridge Road divide the two 

 ranch parcels. 



2. History of Mclsaac Ranch 



William J. Miller, a major landowner of the vast Rancho Nicasio, divided 

 much of his property in the 1860s. In 1866 he sold a 1,201.64-acre portion on 

 the extreme western section of his holdings to brothers Joseph and John 

 DeMartin for $6,000. The Swiss brothers apparently developed a dairy or two 

 on the property. Three years later, on August 25, 1869, the DeMartins divided 

 the ranch, selling 582.5 acres on the northern portion to the Mazza brothers 

 and the southern 619.5 acres to John or Giovanni deAndrea Giacomini for 

 $5,000. Giacomini left the country, apparently leaving one of the DeMartin 

 brothers running a dairy on the site. Less than a year after purchasing the 



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