Francis Cutting was born in Lowell, Massachusetts in 1834 and arrived in San Francisco in 1858. After establishing himself in the fruit packing business, he sought to expand into fruit growing and looked here for a wharf site and orchard land. In 1893, a wharf site and land for a road to it were acquired. From this wharf, paddled-wheeled steamboats carried fruit from Cutting’s orchards and, for a wharfage fee, the fruit of area farmers to bay area canneries. Cutting’s operations ended in 1909, and Napa County purchased the wharf site in 1924.