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T
Y IN RECEN T YEARS, pleasure craft have been known to break their moorings in Sausalito and drift across Richardson Bay and into the docks of multimillion- dollar bayfront homes in Belvedere. It’s a constant issue. However, 100 years ago, that line of white structures lined
up on the island across the bay were not Belvedere mansions, but
a string of codfish-processing plants. And those schooners in the
bay? “They’ve probably just returned to Sausalito from waters
off Alaska or Siberia with tons of codfish aboard,” says Dave Gotz,
archivist at the Belvedere-Tiburon Landmarks Society. “After
the cod was unloaded, it was dried and salted and sent over to
San Francisco for distribution.” According to Gotz, also in the
above circa 1920 photo are five ferries, four of them capable
of carrying cars as well as passengers. “The smaller one in the
middle left of the photo is the Marin, which is about the size of
the ferries that now cross San Francisco Bay.” m
A Tale of
Two Cities
What a difference a hundred
years makes. BY JIM WOOD
Looking Back
DATED 1920
They’ve
probably just
returned to
Sausalito from
waters off Alaska
or Siberia with
tons of codfish
aboard.
