A Fascinating Look at Old Sausalito
By: Anne T. Kent California Room
Tags: Local History, Marin County, Maps, Maritime History, Sausalito

By Dewey Livingston

Map made in 1849 of Old Town Sausalito. Anne T. Kent California Room.

As we pull out interesting maps in the collection of the Anne T. Kent California Room for a closer look, a map of great interest is the oldest original map on file: a survey of a boundary line in Sausalito dated 1849. This beautiful example of the mapmaker’s art, drawn with ink and watercolor on paper, depicts old Saucelito — as it was spelled then — and other compelling details documenting the period before California became a state. This was the time when Navy and whaling ships came to Sausalito to obtain fresh water, and the Mexican-era rancho was still under the ownership of grantee William Antonio Richardson.

The map is entitled, “Map of part of Northern Boundary of Saucelito Tract Conveyed by Richardson & Family to Charles T. Botts. April 16th 1849.” The surveyor or author of the map is not named. The map is small, measuring 15 by 17 inches. It depicts the waterfront of what today is referred to as Old Town, the cove south of downtown Sausalito (the neighborhood is best known in local history as the home of Sally Stanford’s Valhalla restaurant, and known by mariners as Hurricane Gulch). A section of the hillside upon which a property boundary lies shows slope and trees, as well as other details to be discussed below. The map can be seen in detail at this link.

Buildings and docks at old Saucelito (Sausalito) in 1849. Anne T. Kent California Room.

At the time the map was made, there was a small settlement in the cove; six or seven buildings are seen, with a dock and a pier. According to early accounts and to Jack Tracy’s 1983 history of Sausalito, these buildings included a pioneer sawmill erected under contract with the Navy in late 1848 or early 1849, which produced lumber out of logs barged down from the site of Mill Valley. (Contrary to popular old myths, there was no marketable timber, other than cordwood, on the hills of Rancho Sausalito, only in the gulches and canyons in what is now Mill Valley, Muir Woods and a few other sites.) U. S. Navy Commodore Thomas ap Catesby Jones — who was well acquainted with Sausalito for its water supply — had requested the sawmill to supply boards for his Pacific fleet and other Navy uses. Certainly, one or more of the buildings (probably more like shanties) housed the mill crew, including its superintendent, Lt. James McCormick, and another reportedly accommodated a storehouse.

It is possible that one of the buildings is the former cabin of John Reed, who coveted the Sausalito site but instead was later granted Rancho Corte Madera del Presidio to the north. This graphical layout of the early townsite is enticing, as the histories written so far indicate that there were fewer buildings here at this specific time than those depicted on the map. After the map was made, some buildings at the site were taken apart during a lumber shortage and shipped up the Sacramento River.

The old port of Saucelito in 1868. The scene had not changed much since the survey map was made in 1849. Jack Mason Museum of West Marin History.

William Richardson sold about 160 acres of the ranch to Charles Tyler Botts on the day this map was made: April 16, 1849. The price was high: $35,000 in gold, probably reflecting the value of the water from springs near the northern boundary, and the potential plans for a large Navy facility (Mare Island got it, instead). Botts, who earlier that year had been elected chairman of the commission to create a provisional government for the Territory of California and, after purchasing this land, participated in the Constitutional Convention, sold lots to a handful of people, including Commander Jones, Lt. McCormick, and Sausalito pioneer Capt. Leonard Story. A Navy surveyor laid out streets and soon, McCormick built a hotel called the Fountain House, and another rose called the Saucelito House. For the most part, it was a Navy town, with so many men of those ranks buying in.

Botts, for his part, never lived on his land. He became a prominent attorney and judge in Oakland and San Francisco, and died in 1884.

Eventually, Sausalito developed on a larger scale north of the historic cove, with its ferry landings, railroad depot and maintenance yards, and the majority of homebuilding and commercial construction taking place on the waterfront and in the hills in the vicinity of Caledonia Street.

The most historically significant details on the 1849 map are the spring sites. From these springs, and probably others nearby, came the water that brought the earliest commerce to Marin County, as a watering depot for whalers, military ships, and civilians on the coast during the Spanish and Mexican periods. Two springs are seen just below the right-hand part of the boundary line.

The trails and springs seen in a detail of the 1849 map. Anne T. Kent California Room.

Today we travel Bridgeway through Sausalito, which hugs the waterfront (it was originally called Water Street). Note that on this map, there is no road along the shoreline; it was too rocky and precipitous. The route north from the cove was a series of trails; the map shows an “Old Trail” farther up the hill, and the currently used “Trail” closer to the cliff edge. Of course, there was not much overland travel to the north; any visitor would have been on a boat and if they wanted to reach the inner areas of Richardson’s Bay or the south county, they would have continued sailing to a more convenient and close landing. In 1849 there were no towns in Marin County except for San Rafael, which could barely be called a town at that time.

In another interesting detail, the “Inclined Tree” higher on the hill is thought to still exist. The “Rocky Eminence” might also survive the passage of time, up by Waldo Grade.

The “Inclined Tree” depicted on the map is believed to be this one that survives on the hill above Old Town. Photograph by Richard Torney.

This 172-year-old map is a treasure in the collection of the California Room, thanks to Marin surveyor William Schroeder, who had the foresight and generosity to have his survey archive become part of Marin County’s public collection. We can enjoy this glimpse into primitive Marin, and future scholars can use this map to uncover further details about the founding of our world-famous town, Sausalito.