line "crosses through the Curtiss [sic] coral [sic] to the west of the dairy house." 

 Austin's survey names the drainage towards Tocaloma "Curtiss Gulch." Little is 

 known of Curtis; he married Elizabeth McGovern of Olema in 1864, and the 

 couple moved some time after 1868 to the Shafters & Howard property in the 

 upper Lagunitas Canyon near Bon Tempe where he operated a dairy which 

 later became the well-known Liberty Ranch; Curtis died in 1875. 210 



After the death of Rafael Garcia his widow divided the remaining land 

 amongst the family. Jose Garcia received the southernmost ranch of 446.39 

 acres as surveyed in 1868. The newly built road from Olema to San Rafael 

 acted as the northern boundary of the parcel. Jose Garcia mortgaged the 

 property to the Masonic Savings Bank in June of 1872, and within about five 

 years defaulted. The bank sold Garcia's ranch to Nicasio dairyman Neil 

 Mclsaac for $10,000 in gold coin. Mclsaac had a house on the property, 

 evidenced by a news report of the house burning down in 1883. Subsequently, 

 Payne Shafter of Olema sold 113 acres of the former Hurtado ranch to Neil 

 Mclsaac on October 26, 1893 for $100, bringing the total acreage of Mclsaac's 

 ranch to about roughly 573 acres. 211 



Nova Scotia-born Neil Mclsaac came to California as a young man after 

 serving in the Army during the Civil War. He worked on D. D. Wilder's dairy 

 near Olema in 1868 and had apparently rented the Jose Garcia ranch before 

 purchasing it from the bank. Mclsaac also rented a larger dairy property near 

 Nicasio where he raised a family. He died in 1909, leaving the Garcia ranch to 

 his wife Katherine. His son, Donald Dinnie Mclsaac, married Nellie Codoni 

 from the neighboring ranch; both ranches were eventually inherited by Neil 

 Mclsaac's grandsons Donald J. and Neil. 212 



At the turn of the century Charles Skinner rented the dairy ranch. His 

 children were born there and Skinner enlarged the house. Skinner's brother 

 William managed the Shafter and Howard ranches on Point Reyes for many 



10 "Plat of the Survey, for the Relocation of the San Rafael and Olema Road," by Hiram Austin, 

 1867, CHS; "Section of Map Showing Subdivision of the Rancho Baulinas Y Tomales," 1868, in 

 "Abstract of Title ... " [Mclsaac], p. 4, PRNS Collection; Marin County Journal. December 24, 1864; 

 Lincoln Fairley, Mt. Tamalpais. A History (San Francisco: Scottwall Associates, 1987), p. 25; notes 

 on Loomis Curtis provided by Bob Lethbridge (now retired), Marin Municipal Water District, 

 Corte Madera. 



21 'Deeds Book H, p. 77, Book T, p. 529, Book 27, p. 380, Mortgages Book F, p. 646, MCRO; 

 Marin County Journal. June 7, 1883. 



212 Cross, Financing An Empire, p. 539; interview with Rae Codoni. 



372 



