Excerpt from A Good Life, Dairy Farming in the Olema Valley: A History of the Dairy and Beef Ranches of the Olema Valley and Lagunitas Canyon

Golden Gate National Recreation Area, established by Public Law 92-589 on October 27, 1972, covers approximately acres in San Francisco, San Mateo and Marin Counties. Point Reyes National Seashore, authorized on September 13, 1962 and established on October 1972, covers approximately acres of the Point Reyes Peninsula in Marin County. The entire portion of Golden Gate National Recreation Area north of Bolinas Lagoon, of about acres, is managed by the Superintendent, Point Reyes National Seashore. The ranches in this portion, comprising the Olema Valley, the Tocaloma area or Lagunitas Loop, and a portion of Pine Gulch near Bolinas are the subject of this study.

The ranches included in this Historic Resource Study are within the boundaries of Golden Gate National Recreation Area except for the Bear Valley, Teixeira and Hagmaier Ranches, which are within Point Reyes National Seashore, those three ranches, which have been written about in a recent study mentioned below, are included for geographic and historical continuity. This study focuses primarily on operating ranches in federal ownership, most of which continue to exist under agreements known as reservations of use and occupancy. Sites of former ranches (mccurdy, Jewell, are described but in less detail than the occupied sites.

A previous historic resource study, A Civil History of Golden Gate National Recreation Area and Point Reyes National Seashore, California, prepared in 1980 by nps historian Anne Coxe Toogood, dealt with the ranching history in the area, but did not provide enough detail to adequately assist day to-day management, planning and interpretation of the existing cultural resources. The purpose of this report is to fill those gaps with a detailed, ranch - by-ranch history and evaluation. Research methods included site inventories using criteria established by the nps List of Classified Structures and the National Register of Historic Places, interviews with current and former ranch occupants, and extensive archival research. Ms. Toogood's study was invaluable in preparing the introductory chapters.

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