Tom Maddock worked for five years in Marin and bought six horses for moving freight. Once the flume was constructed he was out of work and drove the horses up to Sky Park meadows for the winter. When he went to pick them up the following Spring they had been eaten by Grizzlies. He squatted on land near Big Basin which coincidentally belong to Tom Scott, whose literature had convinced Tom Maddock of the riches of California. When Tom Scott forfeited on building the railroad he had promised the government then his land was put up for sale which Tom Maddock took advantage of.