Hog Island (California)

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Hog Island is a small island covering roughly 2 acres, about 5 miles south of the entrance to Tomales Bay in western Marin County, California, in the United States of America.

In 1996, the island became part of Point Reyes National Seashore.

The island is now uninhabited, though there are remains of a structure and a small pier on the island. Hog Island lacks any fresh water supply.

The island forms a Harbor seal pupping ground and access is restricted during pupping season.

While waters to its west are deep enough for small ships to enter Tomales Bay, at low tide the shallows to the east may be wadeable to the eastern shore of the bay. Unsuspecting vessels have run aground in that region a number of times.

A smaller neighboring island, formally Duck Island but locally known as Piglet, was according to local legend separated from Hog Island in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. The San Andreas fault runs right down the middle of Tomales Bay, straight past Hog Island. 1880s land deeds seem to indicate that the smaller island in fact predates the earthquake, which has not deterred the legends.

The island lends its name to Hog Island Oysters Company, which produces shellfish on Tomales Bay, albeit several miles south of Hog Island.

The name Hog Island reportedly came from a bizarre 1870s incident when a barge carrying a load of pigs caught fire and was grounded on the island to avoid sinking, at which point the pigs escaped onto the island until they were rounded up again.

Hog Island lends its name to an annual Sailboat race held by the Inverness Yacht Club, with the racecourse consisting of sailing from the club, up around the island, and back to the club again.

Hog Island is some distance in from the entrance to Tomales Bay and does not see any of the large sudden waves that characterize the Tomales Bay Bar entrance region.

[edit] Ownership History

• Around 1885, the island was sold by the US Government to one Christian Kuschert, a German immigrant.
• Kuschert gave it to his sister and brother in law Catherine and Henry Siemsen in 1902.
• They sold it to NW Mallery within a year, who in turn lost it in bankruptcy court.
• The property was purchased from the court by Clara Windsor in 1909. She paid $800 for it.
• In 1969, Michael and Annabelle Gahagan purchased the island from Ms Windsor. The next year, they became publishers of The Point Reyes Light, the regional weekly newspaper.
• In 1972, they sold Hog Island to Audubon Canyon Ranch for use as a bird sanctuary.
• Due to difficulties managing the island, it was donated to the Point Reyes National Seashore in 1996.

[edit] References

Much of this timeline is from a 1996 overview article in the Point Reyes Light weekly newspaper.

[edit] External references:

(PDF) Map of Hog and Duck Islands