Pioneer Paper Mill

The mill made newsprint for San Francisco's daily papers out of the city's own rags and scrap paper, and the railroad gave its site a second trade. After the North Pacific Coast line came through in 1875, Taylor opened a hotel and campground beside the mill, and by 1877 parties from the city were arriving to sleep in tents for pleasure, among the first places in the country to offer camping as recreation. The Panic of 1893 took mill and resort from his family. In 1945 the state took the land for unpaid taxes.

What the plaque says

Pioneer Paper Mill The first paper mill on the Pacific Coast was built here in November 1856 by Samuel Penfield Taylor. Using water-power and later steam, it was replaced in 1884 by a larger steam-powered mill nearby, which was closed by the depression of 1893 and destroyed by fire in 1915. Registered Landmark No. 552 Plaque placed by Native Sons and Daughters of the Golden West of Marin County in cooperation with California State Park Commission, October 21, 1956.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Earthquake Trail — 3.2 mi
  A short loop along the San Andreas, where a broken fence shows how far Point Reyes moved in under a minute in 1906.
• Kule Loklo — 3.6 mi
  A Coast Miwok village built in the 1970s to honour a people its builders were told had died out. They had not.
• Cypress Tree Tunnel and Coast Station KPH — 12 mi
  A radio company's driveway that grew into a tunnel, leading to the coast station that kept Morse code on the air.
• Muir Woods National Monument — 13 mi
  A redwood canyon saved from a reservoir by a gift, and named for a man who had been there once.

More markers nearby

• Lime Kilns — 2.8 mi
• Site of the Lighter Wharf at Bolinas — 7.0 mi
• Home of Lord Charles Snowden Fairfax — 9.1 mi
• Site of New Albion — 11 mi