Bodie, California

Bodie, California
Country	United States
State	California
Counties	Mono
Founded	1876
Time zone	UTC-8 (PST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC-7 (PDT)
Website	www.friendsofbodie.org
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Bodie, California is a ghost town on the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada mountain range in Mono County, California, United States, about 75 miles (120 km) southeast of Lake Tahoe.

Discovery

Bodie began as a mining camp of little note following the discovery of gold in 1859 by prospector W. S. Bodey (also spelled Body). That November, Bodey perished in a blizzard after making a supply trip to nearby Monoville.

In 1876, the Standard Company discovered a profitable deposit of gold bearing ore, which transformed Bodie from an isolated mining camp comprising a few prospectors and company employees to a Wild West boomtown. Rich discoveries in the adjacent Bodie Mine during 1878 attracted even more hopeful people. By 1880, Bodie boasted a population of nearly 10,000. Over the years, Bodie's mines produced gold valued at more than $34 million.

As a bustling gold mining center, Bodie had the amenities of larger towns, including two banks, a brass band, railroad, miner's and mechanic's unions, several newspapers, and a jail. At its peak 60 saloons lined Main Street, which was a mile long. Murders, shootouts, barroom brawls, and stagecoach holdups were regular occurrences. Legend has it that a little girl, upon learning that her family was moving there, prayed one night, "Goodbye God, we are going to Bodie." But a local editor claimed she had really prayed, "Good! By God, we are going to Bodie."

Gold bullion from the town's nine stamp mills was shipped to Carson City, Nevada by way of Aurora, Wellington and Gardnerville. Most shipments were accompanied by an armed guard. Once the bullion reached Carson City, it was delivered to the mint or sent by rail to the mint in San Francisco.

A first in electrical power

A saloon in Bodie

In 1893 the Standard Company built its own hydroelectric plant, located approximately 12.5 miles (20 km) away on Green Creek, above Bridgeport, California. The plant developed a maximum of 130 horsepower (96 kW) and 6,600 volts alternating current (AC) to power the company's 20-stamp mill. This pioneering installation is marked as one of the country's first transmissions of electricity over a long distance.

There were doubts about whether the electricity would reach Bodie. To be safe, the transmission line was run in a straight line from Green Creek. (Dead straight on the map; the line did not bore directly through mountains.)

Interesting points about town

Inside one of the buildings at Bodie

Bodie had its own Chinatown, which had several hundred Chinese residents at one point, and even included a Taoist temple. Chinese workers earned their incomes mainly from selling vegetables, operating laundries, operating opium dens, and cutting, hauling, and selling firewood.

Bodie has a cemetery on the outskirts of town and a nearbymortuary, which is the only building in the town built of red brick three courses thick, most likely for insulation to keep the air temperature steady (cold winters, hot summers).

As with other remote mining towns, Bodie had a popular, though clandestinely important, red light district on the north end of town. From this is told the unsubstantiated story of Rosa May, a prostitute who, in the style of Florence Nightingale, came to the aid of the town menfolk when a serious epidemic struck the town at the height of its boom. She was attributed to giving life-saving care to many, but was denied burial within the gates of the town cemetery, remaining a social outcast even to her death.

On Main Street stands the Miners Union Hall, which was the meeting place for labor unions and an entertainment center that hosted dances, concerts, plays, and school recitals. It now serves as a museum. The State Park's ranger station is located in one of the original homes on Green Street.

Weather

Bodie, California, as seen from the hill looking to the cemetery

Summers in Bodie are hot, but in winter, temperatures often plummet well below 0°F (-18°C), and winds could sweep across the valley at close to 100 miles per hour (160 km/h). Nights remain plenty cold even through the summer, and Bodie has held the record for the number of coldest consecutive days in the nation. The harsh weather is due to a particularly bad combination of high altitude (8,400 feet / 2,560 m) and a very exposed plateau, with little in the way of a natural surrounding wall to protect the long, flat piece of land from the elements. Plenty of firewood was needed to keep residents warm through the long winters, which might account for the dearth of trees in the area today. The winter of 1878–1879 was particularly harsh and claimed the lives of many residents.

Authentic ghost town

Though greatly reduced in prominence, Bodie held a permanent residency through most of the 20th century, even after a fire ravaged much of the downtown business district in 1932. Bodie is now an authentic Wild West ghost town. The town was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1961, and in 1962 it became Bodie State Historic Park.

Today, Bodie is preserved in a state of arrested decay. Only a small part of the town survives. Visitors can walk the deserted streets of a town that once had a population of nearly 10,000 people. Interiors remain as they were left and stocked with goods. Bodie is open all year, but the long road that leads to it is usually closed in the winter due to heavy snowfall, so the most comfortable time to visit is during the summer months.

Further reading

• Michael H. Piatt, BODIE: "The Mines Are Looking Well . . ." The History of the Bodie Mining District, Mono County, California. 2003, North Bay Books.

• Roger D. McGrath, Gunfighters, Highwaymen, and Vigilantes: Violence on the Frontier. 1987, University of California Press.

• Charles W. Chesterman, Rodger H. Chapman, and Cliffton H. Gray, 1986, "Geology and ore deposits of the Bodie Mining District," Mono County, California: Bulletin 206, 35 pages, 5 geologic map plates, 7 tables, 11 figures.

External links

• Quivik, Gold and Tailings: The Standard Mill at Bodie, California
• Official Friends of Bodie website
• BodieHistory.com
• official Bodie State Park website
• National Park Service: A History of Chinese Americans in California: Bodie Chinese American Community
• discover more about Bodie's past
• Bodie Ghost Town Photo Gallery
• Story of Bodie - Stereoscopic Video Project
• Bodie in 1865 and recent photographs