When Tomales First Felt a Real Connection to Marin County
By Robert L. Harrison
Marin County is one of the original 27 counties of California. Marin was created February 18, 1850 just months following the adoption of the California 1849 Constitution and nine months before the state was admitted to the Union. California formally became a state on September 9, 1850 but word of statehood was not known in this part of the country until October 16th in San Diego and two days later in the Bay Area when the mail steamer S.S. Oregon brought the news from the east.
In the mid-19th century there were three important population centers in Marin: San Rafael, Sausalito and Tomales. The location of both San Rafael and Sausalito were in close proximity along the eastern edge of the county. In contrast, Tomales was in the county’s far northwest corner and not easily accessible for residents of other Marin towns.
In fact, Petaluma in Sonoma County was the town closest to Tomales. Most commerce in Tomales was conducted with Sonoma County. Even today folks in northwest Marin more closely associate with Petaluma than any city or town in Marin. There were no incorporated cities in early Marin, hence all local government business was carried on at the County Seat.
San Rafael is and has been Marin County’s Seat since April 25, 1851. In early Marin, people living in the Tomales area had to endure a long 45 mile horse ride over rough roads just to visit their county government at San Rafael. Not surprisingly many residents in Tomales were not pleased with San Rafael as the County Seat. Its location on the eastern edge of Marin was quite distant from much of the county’s population. In 1853 a petition was circulated calling for the relocation of the County Seat from San Rafael to Tomales, Nicasio or Olema. The effort did not succeed because it lacked of the required number of legal petitioners.
In January of 1863, moving the Seat was again under consideration. By March the California Legislature approved an Act “To provide for Re-locating the County Seat of the County of Marin by the Qualified Voters of said county.” The legislation specified moving the Seat from San Rafael to Olema. The measure was included in the general election of State and local officials scheduled on September 2, 1863. The countywide results indicated 61% favored retention of the Seat in San Rafael. As might be expected, the vote varied across the county with the west voting over 90% to move the Seat while in eastern Marin 92% voted against relocation.
Following the vote, the September 12, 1863 Marin Journal commented on the location of the County Seat, declaring: “This question is settled for the present.” Yet less than three years later, on April 2, 1866, the State Legislature acted again on the matter. The Board of Supervisors ordered another vote on the location of the County Seat to be held on June 25th that year. A technicality led the Board to cancel that election and no subsequent elections were held again challenging the location of the Marin County Seat.
It was on January 7, 1875, some 25 years after Marin County was established, that a landmark event vastly improved Tomales’ accessibility to the rest of Marin. The North Pacific Coast Railroad (NPC) began service between Tomales and the developed areas in eastern Marin. Travel from the County’s northwest area to its Bay Shore Communities was reduced from the onerous day long horse or carriage ride to a relatively comfortable 40 mile three hour train ride. The January 7th formal opening of the line involved nearly 300 celebrating passengers loaded onto six passenger and two express cars pulled by two engines.
There had been much doubt if such a rail connection could be built at all. It was to be narrow gauge, climb over some of the highest hills in the county, and pass through topography that required crossing high trestles on an extremely curvilinear route. Further the route would run along the shore of Tomales Bay barely inches above high water. The January 14, 1875 Journal lauded the construction of the road and described the railroad’s initial run in a rather poetic manner:
“The morning was dark and foggy, like the first beginnings of the work, but as the day advanced the sun shone brightly out, lifting and dispelling the mist, as the pluck and vim of the builders have overcome all discouragements.”
Most of the passengers on opening day were from San Francisco and not generally familiar with the Marin County landscape. The Journal described them:
“The San Francisco gentlemen were astonished at the rugged character of the country traversed by the line, and charmed by the grandeur and beauty of the scenery.”
As the inaugural train reached Tomales the hilltops were lined with people cheering the train’s arrival. The town and the NPC enhanced the celebration with a large warehouse full of tables spread with turkeys, beef, lamb and a plethora of pastries. It was said the feast was so plentiful that its equal had never before been seen anywhere in California.
In a letter to the Editor of the Journal reprinted by the paper on January 21, 1875 the writer expressed Tomales’ reaction to the event:
“We really begin to feel that we are annexed to Marin County….Now that we have Railroad communication daily we hope soon to become acquainted.”
With opening of rail service the stage connection to Petaluma was discontinued. Mail would be delivered daily by the NPC rather than by stage. The letter published on the 21st concluded:
“Altogether the advent of the Railroad has given great impetus to business in Tomales. Every house in town is occupied and every carpenter busy putting up more or enlarging those already built.”
On July 29, 1875 the Journal highlighted a follow-up article on the rail connection to Tomales:
Well, it was just….six months since the first train entered Tomales from Sausalito and San Rafael, yet the popular verdict has been completely changed in that time. The road is now in great favor with all the traveling public. The cars are models of comfort, the track runs as smoothly as any road in the country, narrow or broad, and there has hardly been an accident worth mentioning since it commenced running.
