Editing Mill Valley, California (section)

===Early settlers===
By 1834, the Mission era had ended and California was under the control of the [[Mexico|Mexican]] government. They took Miwok ancestral lands, divided them and gave them to Mexican soldiers or relatives who had connections with the Mexican governor. The huge tracts of land, called [[Ranchos of California|ranchos]] by the Mexican settlers, or [[Californio]]s, soon covered the area. The Miwoks who had not died or fled were often employed under a state of [[indentured servitude]] to the [[Alta California|California land grant]] owners. That same year, the governor of Alta California, [[José Figueroa]], awarded to [[John Reed (Early Californian)|John T. Reed]] the first land grant in Marin, [[Rancho Corte Madera del Presidio]]. Just west of that, [[Rancho Saucelito]] was transferred to [[William A. Richardson]] in 1838 after being originally awarded to Nicolas Galindo in 1835. William Richardson also married a well-connected woman; both he and Reed were originally from Europe. Richardson's name was later applied to [[Richardson Bay]], an arm of the [[San Francisco Bay]] that brushes up against the eastern edge of Mill Valley. The Richardson rancho contained everything south and west of the [[Arroyo Corte Madera del Presidio|Corte Madera]] and [[Larkspur, California|Larkspur]] areas with the [[Pacific Ocean]], San Francisco Bay, and Richardson Bay as the other three borders. The former encompassed what is now southern Corte Madera, the [[Tiburon Peninsula]], and Strawberry Point.<ref>{{cite web |first= Jen |last= Robinson | url= http://www.co.marin.ca.us/depts/lb/main/crm/maps/MarinRanchosMap.swf |title= My choice for leisure, learning, living |publisher= Marin County Free Library | website= co.marin.ca.us |access-date=February 27, 2017 |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20081114181514/http://www.co.marin.ca.us/depts/lb/main/crm/maps/MarinRanchosMap.swf |archive-date= November 14, 2008  }}</ref>

In 1836, John Reed married Hilaria Sanchez, the daughter of a commandante in the San Francisco [[Presidio]]. He built the first [[sawmill]] in the county on the Cascade Creek (now Old Mill Park) in the mid-1830s on Richardson's rancho and settled near what is now Locke Lane and LaGoma Avenue.<ref name= brief989>{{cite web|url=http://www.millvalleylibrary.org/Index.aspx?page=989 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110721180551/http://www.millvalleylibrary.org/Index.aspx?page=989| url-status= dead |archive-date= July 21, 2011| publisher= Mill Valley Public Library |title= A Brief History of Mill Valley|date=July 21, 2011|access-date=December 30, 2019}}</ref> The mill cut wood for the [[San Francisco Presidio]]. He raised cattle and horses and had a brickyard and stone quarry. Reed also did brisk businesses in hunting, skins, tallow, and other products until his death in 1843 at 38 years of age.<ref>{{cite web| first= Jen |last= Robinson |url= http://www.co.marin.ca.us/depts/lb/main/crm/maps/presidio.html |title= Corte Madera del Presidio (Corte de Madera del Presidio) Rancho | publisher= Marin County Free Library |work= My choice for leisure, learning, living | via= co.marin.ca.us |url-status= dead |access-date= June 23, 2020| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20091110011813/http://www.co.marin.ca.us/depts/lb/main/crm/maps/presidio.html| archive-date= November 10, 2009}}</ref> Richardson sold butter, milk and beef to San Francisco during the [[California gold rush|Gold Rush]]. Shortly thereafter, he made several poor investments and wound up massively in debt to many creditors. On top of losing his [[Mendocino County]] rancho, he was forced to deed the {{convert|640|acre|km2|adj=on}} Rancho Saucelito to his wife, Maria Antonia Martinez, daughter of the commandante of the Presidio, in order to protect her. The rest of the rancho, including the part of what is now Mill Valley that did not already belong to Reed's heirs, was given to his administrator [[Rancho Saucelito|Samuel Reading Throckmorton]]. At his death in 1856 at 61 years old, Richardson was almost destitute.<ref>{{cite web| first= Jen |last= Robinson |url= http://www.co.marin.ca.us/depts/lb/main/crm/maps/sausalito.html |title= Saucelito (Sausalito) Rancho| url-status= dead| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120211141102/http://www.co.marin.ca.us/depts/lb/main/crm/maps/sausalito.html| archive-date= February 11, 2012| publisher= Marin County Free Library |work= My choice for leisure, learning, living | via= co.marin.ca.us |access-date= June 23, 2020}}</ref>

Throckmorton came to San Francisco in 1850 as an agent for an eastern mining business before working for Richardson. As payment of a debt, Throckmorton acquired a large portion of Rancho Saucelito in 1853–54 and built his own rancho, "The Homestead," on what is now Linden Lane and Montford Avenue. The descendants of ranch superintendent Jacob Gardner continue to be active in Marin. Some of the rest of his land was leased out for dairy farming to [[Portuguese people|Portuguese]] settlers.<ref name= brief989 /> A majority of the immigrants came from the [[Azores]]. Those who were unsuccessful at gold mining came north to the [[Marin Headlands]] and later brought their families. In Mill Valley, Ranch "B" is one of the few remaining dairy farm buildings and is located near the parking lot at the Tennessee Valley trailhead.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.nps.gov/goga/historyculture/portuguese-dairy-farmers.htm |title= Portuguese Dairy Farmers |publisher= Golden Gate National Recreation Area (U.S. National Park Service) |access-date=February 26, 2017}}</ref> Throckmorton also suffered devastating financial problems before his death in 1887. His surname would later be applied to one of the major thoroughfares in Mill Valley. Richardson and Reed had never formalized the boundary lines separating their ranchos. Richardson's heirs successfully sued Reed's heirs in 1860 claiming the mill was built on their property. The border was officially marked as running along the [[Arroyo Corte Madera del Presidio]] along present-day Miller Avenue. Everything to the east of the creek was Reed property, and everything to the west was Richardson land. It was Richardson's territory that would soon become part of Mill Valley when Throckmorton's daughter Suzanna was forced to relinquish several thousand acres to the San Francisco Savings & Union Bank to satisfy a debt of $100,000 against the estate in 1889.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.millvalleyhistoricalsociety.org/history-of-early-mill-valley.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20011213052527/http://www.millvalleyhistoricalsociety.org/history-of-early-mill-valley.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=December 13, 2001|title=History of Early Mill Valley|date=December 13, 2001|access-date=December 30, 2019}}</ref>

In 1873, San Francisco physician Dr. John Cushing discovered 320 "lost" acres between the Reed and Richardson boundaries between present-day Corte Madera Avenue, across the creek, and into West Blithedale Canyon. Using the [[Homestead Act]] he petitioned the government and managed to acquire the land. Before his death in 1879 he had built a [[Sanatorium|sanitarium]] in the peaceful canyon.<ref name= brief989 /> In [[Sausalito]] the [[North Pacific Coast Railroad]] had laid down tracks to a station near present-day Highway 101 at Strawberry. Seeing the financial advantages of a railroad his descendants then turned the hospital into the Blithedale Hotel after the land title was finally granted in 1884. The sanitarium was enlarged, cottages were built up along the property, and horse-drawn carriages were purchased to pick up guests at the Alto station. Within a few years, several other summer resort hotels had cropped up in the canyon including the Abbey, the Eastland, and the Redwood Lodge.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pacificsun.com/story.php?story_id=853|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070914014949/http://www.pacificsun.com/story.php?story_id=853|url-status=dead|archive-date=September 14, 2007| work= Pacific Sun |title= Into the canyon (May 4, 2007)|date=September 14, 2007|access-date=December 30, 2019}}</ref> Fishing, hunting, hiking, swimming, horseback riding, and other activities increased in popularity as people came to the area as vacationers or moved in and commuted to San Francisco for work. Meanwhile, Reed's mill deforested much of the surrounding redwoods, meaning that most of the redwoods growing today are second- or third-growth. The King family (King Street) owned property near the Cushing land. One of its buildings was a small adobe house which is believed to have predated the King farm.<ref name="millvalleylibrary.org"/> The Blithedale Hotel used it as a milk house. The adobe structure is still standing and connected to a house on West Blithedale Avenue; it is the oldest structure in Mill Valley.

The San Francisco Savings & Union Bank organized the Tamalpais Land & Water Company in 1889 as an agency for disposing of the Richardson land gained from the Throckmorton debt. The board of directors was President Joseph Eastland, Secretary Louis L. Janes (Janes Street), Thomas Magee (Magee Avenue), Albert Miller (Miller Avenue), and Lovell White (Lovell Avenue).<ref name="mill-valley.freemasonry.biz">{{cite web|url=http://mill-valley.freemasonry.biz/history/mill-valley-town.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060906142836/http://mill-valley.freemasonry.biz/history/mill-valley-town.htm|url-status= dead |website= mill-valley.freemasonry.biz |archive-date=September 6, 2006|title=Mill Valley |date=September 6, 2006 |access-date= December 30, 2019}}</ref> Eastland, who had been president of the North Pacific Coast Railroad in 1877 and retained an interest, pushed to extend the railroad into the area in 1889. Though Reed, Richardson, and the Cushings were crucial to bringing people to the Mill Valley area, it was Eastland who really propelled the area and set the foundation for the city today. He had founded power companies all around the San Francisco Bay area, was on the board of several banks, and had control of several commercial companies.<ref name= brief989 /> The Tamalpais Land & Water Co. hired [[Michael O'Shaughnessy|Michael M. O'Shaughnessy]], already a noted engineer to lay out roads, pedestrian paths, and step-systems for what the developers hoped would become a new city. He also built the Cascade Dam & Reservoir for water supply, and set aside land plots for churches, schools, and parks. [[File:general-MV-views-c1900.jpg|thumb|left|225px|alt=Mill Valley before 1900.|Mill Valley before 1900]] [[File:Gravity-car-on-Mt-Tam-Muir.jpg|thumb|right|225px|alt=Gravity car no. 21 on the Mt. Tam and Muir Woods Scenic Rwy c. 1915.|Gravity car no. 21 on the Mt. Tam and Muir Woods Scenic Rwy c. 1915]] 
[[File:PostcardMillValleyCAwithMountTamalpaisCirca1910.jpg|thumb|left|225px|alt=Mill Valley 1910 postcard|Similar view of Mill Valley, c. 1910, as pictured on a souvenir postcard with the caption 'Mill Valley and Mount Tamalpais, Showing Crookedest Railroad, California']]
On May 31, 1890, nearly 3,000 people attended The Tamalpais Land & Water Co. land auction near the now-crumbling sawmill. More than {{convert|200|acre|km2}} were sold that day in the areas of present-day Throckmorton, Cascade, Lovell, Summit, and Miller Avenues and extending to the west side of Corte Madera Avenue. By 1892, there were two schools in the area and a few churches.<ref name= brief989 /> The auction also brought into Mill Valley architects, builders, and craftsmen. Harvey A. Klyce was one of the most prominent of the architects and designed many private homes and public buildings in the area, including the Masonic Lodge in 1904.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://mill-valley.freemasonry.biz/history/biographies.htm|title=Some of The Men who Built Masonry and the Lodge |date= August 10, 2004| website= mill-valley.freemasonry.biz |access-date=September 17, 2017|url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20040810082230/http://mill-valley.freemasonry.biz/history/biographies.htm|archive-date=August 10, 2004}}</ref> Before his death in 1894, Eastland built a large summer home, "Burlwood", constructed on Throckmorton Avenue in 1892 that still stands though much of the original land has been parceled off. Burlwood was the first home in the town to have electricity, and when telephones were installed only he and Mrs. Cushing, the owner of the Blithedale Hotel, had service.<ref name="mill-valley.freemasonry.biz"/> After the land auctions the area was known as both "Eastland" and "Mill Valley".<ref>{{cite book| last= Durham| first= David L.| year= 1998| title= California's Geographic Names: A Gazetteer of Historic and Modern Names of the State| publisher= Quill Driver Books| page= 664 | isbn= 978-1-884995-14-9}}</ref>

Janes, by then the resident director of Tamalpais Land & Water Co. (and eventually the city's first town clerk), and Sidney B. Cushing, president of the San Rafael Gas & Electric Co. set out to bring a railroad up Mt. Tamalpais. The Mt. Tamalpais Scenic Railway opened in 1896 (with Cushing as president) and ran from the town center (present-day Lytton Square) all the way to the summit. In 1907, the railroad added a branch line into "Redwood Canyon", and in 1908, the canyon became [[Muir Woods]], a [[National monument (United States)|national monument]]. The railroad built the Muir Inn (with a fine restaurant) and overnight cabins for visitors. The [[Mount Tamalpais and Muir Woods Railway|Mt. Tamalpais & Muir Woods Scenic Railway]], "The Crookedest Railroad in the World" and its unique [[Gravity railroad|Gravity Cars]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mttam.net/Default.aspx?tabid=828|title=Gravity Car Barn|date=May 6, 2009|access-date=September 17, 2017|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090506003425/http://www.mttam.net/Default.aspx?tabid=828|archive-date=May 6, 2009}}</ref> brought thousands of tourists to the Tavern of Tamalpais on the mountain summit (built in 1896, rebuilt after the 1923 fire, and razed in 1950 by the California State Parks),<ref>{{cite web |first= Jen |last= Robinson |url=http://www.co.marin.ca.us/depts/lb/main/crm/photoalbums/railroadalbum/railroad1.html |title= Railroad | publisher= Marin County Free Library |work= My choice for leisure, learning, living | via= co.marin.ca.us |date=June 24, 2016 |access-date=February 27, 2017 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120218223231/http://www.co.marin.ca.us/depts/lb/main/crm/photoalbums/railroadalbum/railroad1.html |archive-date=February 18, 2012 |url-status=dead  }}</ref> the West Point Inn (built in 1904, by the scenic railway, operated commercially until 1943, closed briefly and then run by volunteers to the present day),<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.westpointinn.com/about.htm| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20060721163654/http://www.westpointinn.com/about.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 21, 2006 |title= The West Point Inn - Marin, San Francisco, Mount Tamalpais, Hiking|date=July 21, 2006|access-date=December 30, 2019}}</ref> and the Muir Woods Inn (burned in 1913, rebuilt in 1914, destroyed in 1930).<ref>{{cite web |first= Jen |last= Robinson | publisher= Marin County Free Library |work= My choice for leisure, learning, living | via= co.marin.ca.us |url= http://www.co.marin.ca.us/depts/lb/main/crm/photoalbums/railroadalbum/muirinn.html |title= Muir Woods Inn |date=June 24, 2016 |access-date= February 27, 2017 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120218223241/http://www.co.marin.ca.us/depts/lb/main/crm/photoalbums/railroadalbum/muirinn.html |archive-date=February 18, 2012 |url-status=dead  }}</ref> The tracks were removed in 1930 after the 1929 fire. This occurred as a result of a drop in ridership due to increased usage of automobiles rather than trains for recreation and construction of the Panoramic Highway and connecting road to Ridgecrest in 1929. Rails connected Mill Valley with neighboring cities and commuters to San Francisco via ferries.{{citation needed|date=February 2017}}