By Brian K. Crawford English-born George Lister, 33 and married, worked for the American Railway Express Company, one of the largest companies in the country, handling most package deliveries by railroad. Lister’s office was in the Northwestern Pacific Ferry Building in Sausalito. Every day shipments arrived by train to be…

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…

By Carol Acquaviva Here’s an SAT word for you: toponymy. It means the study of toponyms which are the formal names of geographic places. In Marin County, there are a great many schools, churches, towns, streets, neighborhoods, and other defined areas and landmarks named for Christian saints. …

By Brian K. Crawford Marshall Miller was born in Ohio around 1845. He had an adventurous youth, traveling widely around the United States and Mexico. He married, but his wife died young. He lived in the Arizona Territory for some time, then came to northern California. He worked as a…

Editor’s Note: This essay appeared in the 1923 (Vol. II, no. II) issue of Trails, a yearbook published annually by the California Alpine Club based in San Francisco. Joseph Mailliard (1857–1945) settled in the San Geronimo Valley with his parents in 1873, where young Joseph developed an interest in natural…

By Brian K. Crawford Little is known about Chun Sing’s origins or motives. He was probably born in China sometime around 1857. In 1895 he was living in the small town of Lundy in Mono County. Lundy, at the west end of Lundy Lake, no longer exists, but at that…

By Carol Acquaviva October 13, 2022, marks the 60th anniversary of the dedication and opening of the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Marin County Civic Center, including the Civic Center Branch of the Marin County Free Library. In honor of this special and historic occasion, the Library and the County of Marin…

By Robert L. Harrison Since California’s statehood in 1850 the supply of fresh water has been an ever growing concern for the state. In recent years issue has been especially severe in Marin County. Inadequate water storage has led to emergency projects to increase the local supply. …

By Lynn Downey If you are interested in the history of western Marin County then you have probably visited the Tomales Regional History Center on Highway 1 in the town of Tomales (TRHC). This gem of a museum is housed in the 1921 former gymnasium of the original high school…