I was doing a bike ride with some friends from Buck's Landing, near China Camp, and Rob Jackson was telling me about the bricks in the ground.
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| Rob pointing at bricks |
He said that the bricks were discards that were not good enough to sell, that the whole area is full of them, several levels deep. He said they were made around the corner in a "slug pond," and then loaded on boats and fired 'around the way at McNear's.' I didn't know about that, so I did some research.
The Remillard family made bricks. They were French Canadian, and came down for the Gold Rush. You can read more about Remillard here on my blog, on wikipedia, localwiki and plenty more places.
I did find this article, from right before the creation of Larkspur Landing,
talking about the Remillard Brick Company's kiln - still there, towering near
the San Quentin entrance - but also their property along Gallinas Creek. (Now
go watch the original Dirty Harry movie,
the final fight scene is filmed in the old quarry, before the new
development began.)
The Countess And The Brickyard, part 1 14 Jul 1973, Sat
Daily Independent Journal (San Rafael, California)
Newspapers.com
From the second page of that article:
So, Rob's story sort of checks out; they'd make the brick at Gallinas Creek, then put them on boats, (named after their ladies) bring them around the way to the big kiln and fire them.
I looked at the 1892
Official Map Of Marin County, California, which I've georeferenced for another project, and sure enough, there is a
75-acre parcel assigned to
P. N. Remillard
that lines up perfectly with Buck's Landing.
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| The 1892 Official Map Of Marin County, California map, georeferenced, showing the location of the P. N. Remillard parcel and modern-day Buck's Landing |
I think this red transport route must have been what they used, I can't imagine them firing bricks at McNear's, that was the competition. See inset for the other Remillard property, where Larkspur Landing is now.
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| Pardon my shaky ship's route |
According to the article above, the Remillard Brick Works shut down in 1915. What happened at Buck's Landing? I don't think much happened, to be honest. Nothing still does happen at Buck's Landing.
In 1957, Joe Nerviani opened Joe's Boat Launching on the site:
In 1966, Ernest Eddings opened Buck's Landing at the former site of Joe's Boat Launching.
I guess Ernest was "Buck."
I'm sure there's more to the story. That's what I was able to figure out in a few hours of noodling. If you know more, please leave a comment below with your knowledge.
Here's another news story about neighborhood activity. Marin's History Found In Mounds - Daily Independent Journal, 07 Nov 1953
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