Marin is one of the original 27 California counties. It was created months before California was formally admitted as a state in 1850. But, the source of the name for the county has always been in doubt. Two major stories have competed almost since the founding of the county as the true origin story for the county. While there is no definitive historical evidence either way, one story is usually favored because it is much more interesting.

Chief Marin

General Mariano Vallejo was in charge of the 1850 committee responsible for naming each of the new California counties. He filed what he called a historical report on the naming of the counties with the new California State legislature where he stated Marin County was named after the great Chief Marin who had fought many ferocious battles against the Spanish.

Chief Marin was born into Huimen tribe, a branch of the great costal Miwok tribe. His birth name was Huicmuse. He was later baptized and took the Christian name Marino or Marin.

General Vallejo reports that in 1815 or 1816 Chief Marin led an expedition into the area north of San Francisco Bay. Upon his return to civilization there was a battle with the Spanish where he was captured and imprisoned at the Presidio. He later escaped and reunited his forces for years of harassment and guerilla style warfare against the Spanish, finally being captured again in 1824. At some point he also hid out in the Marin Islands. After he was freed after the 1824 incarceration, Chief Marin retired to the mission at San Rafael.

Problems With the Chief Marin Story

There is scant evidence that General Vallejo’s account is true. Chief Marin was unquestionably a real person, and records show he lived various missions and acted as baptismal witness several times. He was married three times, as he outlived his first two wives. He did escape the mission system at least once, and probably twice, and he was imprisoned. But, there is no evidence of his military campaign.

He did die at the mission in San Rafael. There is also little to link Chief Marin as the namesake of the Marin islands, where records show he did hide out upon one of his escapes.

A Matter of Geography

The second story of the naming of Marin is less interesting and probably more accurate. The bay between San Pedro Point and San Quentin Point was called by the Spanish Bahía de Nuestra Señora del Rosario la Marinera as far back as 1775. The bay and the surrounding area were often called by an abbreviation of the long name, Marin.

While the second story might be true, Mark Twain once wisely advised to never let the facts get in the way of a good story. Perhaps General Vallejo felt the same way and decided to gift Marin County with an exciting origin story that incorporates both its Spanish period and is a tribute to the native people who first called this beautiful area home.

Long before the arrival of Europeans, members of the local Miwok tribes would come to the island to hunt, fish, and gather food. The island provided a plentiful buffet, serving up salmon, acorns, and various birds. The island held a special place in the tribe’s way of life and livelihood. Once the Europeans began arriving, Angel Island would be put to far different uses.

Angel Island Between the times of the Miwok and the United States

The first Europeans to displace the Miwok were the Russians. Angel Island became an outpost in their fur trading empire. Thousands of sea otters were trapped and killed for their furs. The Spanish and Mexicans, who used Angel Island as an occasional place to graze cattle, pushed out the Russians.

During these years Angel Island was not an easy place to get to. It required skill, daring, and muscle to navigate the channel and dock a boat at the island. Technology would eventually allow for regular ferry service between Angel Island and Sausalito.

Ellis Island of the West

Ellis Island is famous as being a stopping point for immigrants filled with hope coming to the United States. Angel Island served much of the same purpose for immigrants crossing the Pacific Ocean. While Ellis Island’s role in the history of immigration is well known, the struggles of the people that came through Angel Island are still just being discovered.

Angel Island didn’t just process immigrants; it also served as a detention center. Chinese immigrants would undergo harsh interrogations to see if they qualified for entrance to the United States, many would never enter the United States after getting so close. They were deported and sent back, and a few would die on the island. Most immigrants who came through Angel Island never spoke of the harsh conditions to their families.

The Crying Walls

Many of the secrets of Angel Island would have been permanently forgotten were it not for an alert ranger. The old immigration station was going to be destroyed. It was already in ruins. But, a ranger spotted some Chinese calligraphy on one of the walls. It turned out the walls of the old station had been written on and carved by immigrants detained at Angel Island. Mostly they wrote poems about the conditions, about their families, and their hopes and sorrows. In addition to Chinese, poems have also been found in Korean, Russian, and Urdu.

Angel Island is now an easy ferry ride from the mainland. Campers and other visitors mostly come here for the scenery. But, inside the restored ranger station the secrets of countless immigrants remain, with only a few poems left to tell their stories.

Marin County had watched as San Francisco grew into a world-class city just across the narrow Golden Gate Strait. While the residents of Marin were never interested in the kind of  growth that had shaped San Francisco, many were eager for the economic development better transportation between the county and the big city would bring. While regular ferry service between San Francisco and Sausalito would begin in 1868, the dream of a bridge wouldn’t be realized until 1937.

The Impossible Bridge

While many officials in Marin County and San Francisco desperately wanted a bridge across the bay, for several years the conventional wisdom was that the span would be impossible to build. But, in 1919 after visiting the future site of the bridge, Joseph B. Strauss was convinced he could design a bridge that could be built to link the two ends of the bay.

It took over ten years of lobbying and politicking, but in 1930 six counties, including Marin, agreed to form a bridge district and passed a bond to pay for the $37 million construction costs.

The decision to build the bridge was such a big deal in Marin County that all stores closed at 3pm on November 12^th and everyone was invited to a football game in San Rafael and watches an air circus.

The Bridge and the Depression

Like most of the country, Marin was still suffering form high unemployment and a host of other economic problems as a result of the Great Depression. Building the bridge was dangerous work, but men were lined up and ready to work, even though working meant being as high as 700 feet above the water.

One early worker remembered the pressure to always keep moving because a supervisor was ready to fire you on the spot and replace you with one those eagerly waiting to work on the bridge.

Success

Despite the danger and the tough economic conditions, the Golden Gate Bridge was opened to traffic in 1937. The once impossible bridge had been completed and its unique design would make it arguable the most famous bridge in the world. The day the bridge opened to pedestrians some 200,000 people went across the bridge.

The bridge did prove to be an economic boon to those counties north of San Francisco. Property values rose as workers moved across the bay to save money and escape the city.

It is now impossible to imagine Marin County without the bridge. The Golden Gate still brings people to Marin looking to escape the city and property values are still rising.