First Saw Mill

The bronze gives the county's first sawmill to Charles Brown, but an 1893 history of the coast counties called the question disputed and split the honor between Brown and Dennis Martin, both in 1847. The same book then quotes James Weeks, who was whipsawing these redwoods by the mid-1830s, and his order runs the other way. Weeks put Martin's water-powered mill first, in the fall of 1850, three-quarters of a mile below Searsville, and said a flood carried it off within weeks. The next, on Brown's Mountain Home Ranch, was built by a man named De Hart.

What the plaque says

First Saw Mill About three hundred feet south of this monument, on the banks of Alambique Creek, stood San Mateo County's first saw mill, built by Charles Brown in 1847. About the same time Dennis Martin was building a second mill on San Francisquito Creek. Both were run by water power and were similar in structure to the famous Sutter's Mill at Coloma. State Registered Landmark No. 478 Marker placed by the Board of Supervisors of San Mateo County in cooperation with the San Mateo County Historical Association. Dedicated June 8, 1952

Where it stands

More markers nearby

• Town of Searsville — 0.6 mi
• Our Lady of the Wayside — 1.9 mi
• Woodside Store — 2.1 mi
• Casa de Tableta — 3.7 mi