Novato Rancho.

Description

This is a very scarce c. 1880 bird’s-eye-view of Novato, California, drawn by C.J. Dyer and printed by the Oakland-based lithographers Smith & Elliott. 

The view is oriented towards the northwest and focuses on the land owned by Joseph Sweetser and Francis DeLong (here as De Long), two San Francisco merchants, who purchased it in 1857. The land, totalling some 15,000 acres, mainly consisted of the Rancho Novato, a nearly 9,000-acre plot named for a local Coast Miwok chief (baptized as Novatus) and granted by the Mexican government to Fernando Feliz in 1839. It then changed hands several times until Sweetser and De Long purchased it. 

The duo set about planting the largest apple orchard in the United States, as well as other fruit trees, some 44,000 trees in all, while also planting cypress and pine trees along the road running adjacent to the ranch (the basis for Novato Blvd.). In 1865, Sweetser and DeLong built an impressive mansion, seen here, to house both their families; the building still stands today as the Trumbull Manor (now a conference center used by the Catholic organization Opus Dei).

This view is an essential chronicle of the early history of the city of Novato. Aside from Sweetser and DeLong’s ranch, several other homes and buildings can be seen in the settlement, particularly in the vignette at the top, ‘Part of Ranch – Looking East.’ Notably, a steam train can be seen in the distance, heralding significant changes to come to the area. The Northwest Pacific Railroad arrived in 1879 and almost immediately transformed the town, shifting its center of gravity from the ranch itself to the area around the railroad depot (now Novato’s ‘Old Town’ but then known as ‘New Town’). Linking Novato to Sausalito, the railroad provided a quick way for farmers to get their produce and other goods to market in San Francisco. 

Publication information

This view was drawn c. 1880 by C. J. Dyer, an artist who also produced a view of Napa around this time, but otherwise is known for views and maps of Phoenix, Arizona, and environs. It was printed by Smith & Elliott, seemingly a short-lived outfit whose only other known works are a few maps and short books of illustrations about different California counties. The Bancroft Library holds the only other known example of this work at the University of California, Berkeley.