August 23, Bodie - A Ghost Town

The road to Bodie - a California gold mining ghost town. This was a State Park on Hwy 395, about 25 miles from our campground in Lee Vining. It was not too bad the first 20 miles up the mountain to Bodie, but the last 3 miles was a washboard style dirt road and it rose to an elevation of about 8,000 ft.. Tough driving and hard on the RV.

My first sight of the town was thrilling. It was like nothing I've ever seen before and it was all I hoped it would be.

This was a piece of equipment used to produce electricity for the town. Looked like some sort of well pump to me.

Yes, there was even a gas station here.

This was the Wheaton & Hollis Hotel. At one time it served as the Power Company office and later as a boarding house.

Typical residential home. Imagine living here when there's 20 feet of snow, winds up to 100 miles an hour, and temperatures down to 30 or 40 degrees. The houses were poorly constructed, so plenty of firewood was needed. Still, many of the residents, some of them new arrivals, were not prepared for the severe winter of 1878. Many died of exposure, disease or violence.

We were able to go inside some of the homes. Notice Joe is wearing his new cowboy hat. He felt it only appropriate out of respect for the rugged frontiersmen who conquered this territory.

The Boone Store and warehouse, 1879, served as the general store. Owned by Harvey Boone, a direct descendant of Daniel Boone.

The mine, located east of town, was first known as the Bunker Hill Mine, then as the Standard Consolidated Mining Company. It yielded nearly $15 million dollars over 25 years and caused the 1878 rush to Bodie. The population rose from about 20 to 10,000 miners, gamblers and other entrepreneurs. And with all those people and a lust for money, killings occurred regularly as well as robberies, stage holdups and street fights. So there was a definite need for these two buildings.

I can understand why some folks preferred living on the outskirts of town. It is believed that this was the site of William Bodey's cabin; he first discovered gold here in 1859.

I've probably written too much about this particular place, but there was a presence about it that intrigued me. All the "bad boys of Bodie" are gone, but "today it stands just as time, fire and the elements have left it - a genuine California gold mining ghost town". Now a state historic park maintained in a state of "arrested decay".

The road less traveled-that's another story!