Site: Bodie
County, State: Mono county, Kalifornistan
Years of Occupation: 1861 - 1940's
Status of Site: State park
Classification: 3.5
Type: Mining
Remnants: Dozens of homes and business many with fully stocked shelves
GPS Coordinate: 38.2122 119.0111
Date of Last Visit: August, 2014
Bodie got off to a slow start with a small gold discovery by the town’s namesake and his partners in about 1859. It wasn’t until a mine cave-in exposed a rich gold ledge in 1875 that money and miners started pouring in and the town began to boom. By the late 1870’s, some estimates put the population at 10,000 people.
Bodie had a reputation for being a raw, raunchy, lawless place. Spawning sayings of the day such as “bad man from Bodie” and “goodbye God, I’m going to Bodie”.
The mines never really lived up to the hype that had brought all the money and people into the town though and steady decline was to be Bodie’s fate for several decades. Finally, in 1932 a fire ravaged the town, completely destroying about 90% of the buildings. The 10% that were left, are mostly still there today.
Finally, World War II and the gov’t demands for all mining to be in support of the war effort – which essentially stopped all commercial gold mining, put an end to the town. What remained had been bought up by a private speculator who hired guards to watch over his property, which accounts for the remarkably intact buildings and shelves of goods in the stores. In 1962 it became a California State Park.
Since taking over the town as a state park in 1962, California has preserved Bodie in what they call “an arrested state of decay”. Considered to be the West’s largest, best preserved ghost town. I’d rank it a must see for any ghost towner. There simply isn’t anywhere else I know of that you can walk the empty streets and peer into the windows of such a large, wholly intact abandoned western mining town.
Further Reading:
http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=509
http://www.bodie.com/
http://www.bodiehistory.com/bodie.htm
To get there:
The park is northeast of Yosemite, 13 miles east of Highway 395 on Bodie Road (Hwy 270), seven miles south of Bridgeport.
From U.S. 395 seven miles south of Bridgeport, take State Route 270. Go east 10 miles to the end of the pavement and continue 3 miles on a dirt road to Bodie. The last 3 miles can at times be rough. Reduced speeds are necessary. Call the park if there are any questions about road conditions.
- DAA
County, State: Mono county, Kalifornistan
Years of Occupation: 1861 - 1940's
Status of Site: State park
Classification: 3.5
Type: Mining
Remnants: Dozens of homes and business many with fully stocked shelves
GPS Coordinate: 38.2122 119.0111
Date of Last Visit: August, 2014
Bodie got off to a slow start with a small gold discovery by the town’s namesake and his partners in about 1859. It wasn’t until a mine cave-in exposed a rich gold ledge in 1875 that money and miners started pouring in and the town began to boom. By the late 1870’s, some estimates put the population at 10,000 people.
Bodie had a reputation for being a raw, raunchy, lawless place. Spawning sayings of the day such as “bad man from Bodie” and “goodbye God, I’m going to Bodie”.
The mines never really lived up to the hype that had brought all the money and people into the town though and steady decline was to be Bodie’s fate for several decades. Finally, in 1932 a fire ravaged the town, completely destroying about 90% of the buildings. The 10% that were left, are mostly still there today.
Finally, World War II and the gov’t demands for all mining to be in support of the war effort – which essentially stopped all commercial gold mining, put an end to the town. What remained had been bought up by a private speculator who hired guards to watch over his property, which accounts for the remarkably intact buildings and shelves of goods in the stores. In 1962 it became a California State Park.
Since taking over the town as a state park in 1962, California has preserved Bodie in what they call “an arrested state of decay”. Considered to be the West’s largest, best preserved ghost town. I’d rank it a must see for any ghost towner. There simply isn’t anywhere else I know of that you can walk the empty streets and peer into the windows of such a large, wholly intact abandoned western mining town.
Further Reading:
http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=509
http://www.bodie.com/
http://www.bodiehistory.com/bodie.htm
To get there:
The park is northeast of Yosemite, 13 miles east of Highway 395 on Bodie Road (Hwy 270), seven miles south of Bridgeport.
From U.S. 395 seven miles south of Bridgeport, take State Route 270. Go east 10 miles to the end of the pavement and continue 3 miles on a dirt road to Bodie. The last 3 miles can at times be rough. Reduced speeds are necessary. Call the park if there are any questions about road conditions.
- DAA
