SAMUEL P TAYLOR STATE PARK SURVEY

IN 1985 AFTER COMING TO SANTA ROSA FROM PHOENIX I GOT A PART TIME JOB WITH STATE PARKS. THE SUPERVISOR WANTED ME TO SUPERVISE A SURVEY OF A 3700 ACRE STATE PARK LOCATED IN MARIN COUNTY ALONG LAGUNITAS CREEK.
THE PARK HAS ABOUT 600 ACRES OF OLD GROWTH REDWOOD. I DID PREFIELD RESEARCH AND INTERVIEWED A LONG TIME PARK ARCHEOLOGIST WHO HAD RESEARCHED THE PARK'S HISTORY AS WELL AS THE PARK MAINTENANCE SUPERVISOR. THE LATER MAN WAS INTERESTED IN SHOWING ME SOME OF THE HISTORIC FEATURES AS WELL AS GAVE ME SOME POINTERS TO TO WHERE THE HISTORIC SITES WERE LOCATED. HIS INTERVIEW WAS TRANSCRIBED. WE FOUND ABOUT 14 HISTORIC SITES, TAYLOR'S HISTORIC HOME AND BARN FOUNDATION, AS WELL AS THE MILL BUILDING FOUNDATION AND MANY BOTTLE DUMP SITES. WE ALSO FOUND KENNETH REXROTH'S HISTORIC CABIN SITE ALONG A SMALL DRAINAGE. HE WAS A WORLD FAMOUS POET WHOSE POETRY WAS TRANSLATED INTO MANY DIFFERENT LANGUAGES. HE LIKED TO USE THIS CABIN AS A RETREAT WHERE HE WROTE NATURE POETRY. HE ALSO WROTE A POEM ABOUT THE HISTORIC ORCHARD THERE AND ABOUT AN OWL THAT WOULD COME NEAR HIS CABIN EACH NIGHT. I ALSO INTERVIEWED HIS WIFE WHO HAD MANY INSIGHTS ABOUT LIFE IN THE 1930'S. SHE HAD THREE BABIES IN DUNCAN MILLS WHILE REXROTH HAD GONE TO PRISON IN WASHINGTON AS HE PROTESTED AGAINST THE POLITICS IN SAN FRANCISCO.

WE FOUND ONLY A COUPLE OF PREHISTORIC SITES ALONG THE CREEK AS THIS WAS A HEAVILY FORESTED AREA. THE SITES HAD MUCH LOCAL NATIVE CHERT. I WROTE A LARGE REPORT CITING SOME OF THE HISTORY FROM ANOTHER BOOK THAT WAS WRITTEN ABOUT TAYLOR.

THE PARK WAS NAMED FOR SAMUEL TAYLOR WHO FOUND GOLD DURING THE GOLD RUSH DAYS BUT HE ALSO BECAME FAMOUS FOR BUILDING CALIFORNIA'S FIRST PAPER MILL ALONG LAGUNITAS CREEK IN 1856. IN THE 1870'S THE NORTH PACIFIC RAILROAD WAS BUILT. THIS AREA BECAME FAMOUS AS A RESORT FOR SAN FRANCISCANS AND THEY HAD A HOTEL, TENT CAMP, DANCE PAVILION, BOATING, AND SWIMMING HOLE. EVEN AFTER TAYLOR'S DEATH, ANOTHER PARTY BOUGHT THE RESORT AND CONTINUED TO OPERATE IT UNTIL 1916 WHEN THE MILL BURNED DOWN. THEN IN 1945 THE STATE PARKS BOUGHT IT.


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