![\"The](\"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Abandoned-150x150.jpg\")
<\/a>The Bodie Car Show<\/p><\/div>\n
A friend recently posted a picture of herself in the ghost town of Bodie, California<\/strong>, an abandoned mining town in the Eastern Sierras.\u00a0 I thought we were the only people crazy enough to take the three mile, pot-holed, kidney-damaging road back to see Bodie so it was good to know we weren’t alone.\u00a0 Assuming that most of our readers are not crazy<\/strong> (perhaps a rather large assumption) and therefore have not seen Bodie in person\u00a0I thought I’d fill you in on this little piece of California history.<\/p>\n First of all, part of the reason Bodie is not well known is that it’s in a rather remote part of the country<\/strong>.\u00a0 It’s just off Highway 395, about 75 miles southeast of Lake Tahoe and 12 miles south of Bridgeport<\/strong>, a town so remote itself that it’s claim to fame is it’s high gas prices.\u00a0 (As a side note, my husband and I have been playing a game of “name the gas price” for 30 years\u00a0whenever we approach Bridgeport and we always underestimate).\u00a0The turnoff to Bodie is easy to miss – there is a small brown “State Park” marker but that’s it.\u00a0 Bodie is 13 miles east of the turnoff, 10 miles paved and the last three the teeth-jarring surface<\/strong> mentioned above.\u00a0 In fairness, there is a sign posted warning that the road is not paved the whole way, but given the condition of the road it should say “Turn Back Now if You Value Your Tires and Vertebrae”.<\/p>\n Downtown Bodie<\/p><\/div>\n Once you arrive in Bodie you will be transported back in time<\/strong>.\u00a0 The Bodie Foundation, which now runs Bodie for the State Park system, makes a point in informing visitors that Bodie has not been restored, rather, it’s been preserved <\/em>in a state of arrested decay.\u00a0 Walking down the main street in Bodie is the closest you might ever come to experiencing a real mining town.\u00a0 A town with a storied past and a short lifespan.\u00a0 In 1859, as the gold rush in the western Sierra<\/strong> slopes began to dry up, miners rushed to the high desert of the eastern slopes in hopes of making their fortunes.\u00a0W.S. Bodey laid claim to the land around Bodie and then set out to Mono City to get supplies for the town.\u00a0 Unfortunately, the winter of 1859 was particularly harsh and Mr. Bodey froze to death<\/strong> in a snow storm on his way back to camp.\u00a0 Nevertheless, others carried on and named the town in his honor – although a sign painter spelled the name phonetically and that’s the spelling that endured.\u00a0 Some gold was discovered but the town struggled through the 1860’s and early 70’s; by 1868 only two mining companies had been established and that year they both closed.\u00a0\u00a0In 1876, the Standard Company decided to mine Bodie again and discovered a profitable deposit of gold<\/strong>.\u00a0 Suddenly Bodie was transformed from a has-been mining camp to a boomtown.\u00a0 More discoveries were made in an adjacent mine in 1878, causing more and more people to seek their fortunes in this remote wilderness.\u00a0 It’s estimated that in its heyday the population of Bodie was 5,000-7,000 people with more than 2,000 buildings in town.<\/p>\n Bodie had amenities not usually found in a mining camp – a Wells Fargo Bank, several daily newspapers, restaurants, a volunteer fire company<\/strong> and even a brass band.\u00a0 There was a Chinatown neighborhood\u00a0with several hundred \u00a0inhabitants who had been brought in to work the mines.\u00a0 And just like in “Gunsmoke”, there was a red light district with their own Miss Kitty – Rosa May.\u00a0 But what\u00a0Bodie was best known for was it’s free-wheeling, downright dangerous culture.\u00a0 There were 65 (!) saloons<\/strong> along the one mile stretch of Main Street.\u00a0 The cry of miners as they left their hometowns was\u00a0“Goodbye God, I’m Going to Bodie”.\u00a0 The town became known for\u00a0murders, shootouts, barroom brawls, and stagecoach holdups.<\/p>\n The General Store<\/p><\/div>\n The first signs of Bodie’s decline began in\u00a01880 when\u00a0silver and gold\u00a0discoveries<\/strong> in Montana, Arizona and Utah lured the\u00a0“get-rich-quick”\u00a0miners to the new boomtowns.\u00a0\u00a0 Most of the single men left town and Bodie turned into a\u00a0family-oriented community.\u00a0 Despite the population decline, the mines\u00a0flourished.\u00a0 A narrow-gauge railroad was built,\u00a0the Bodie Railway & Lumber Company<\/strong>, bringing much needed lumber, cordwood, and mine timbers to town.\u00a0 But there was no going back to the boom times.\u00a0 By 1910 the population was down to\u00a0698 people.\u00a0 In 1912 the last newspaper, The Bodie Miner<\/em>, shut down and in 1913 the Standard Mining Company finally closed its doors.\u00a0 In 1917, the Bodie Railway was abandoned and its iron tracks were scrapped<\/strong>.\u00a0By 1920, the Census Bureau recorded Bodie’s population as 120 people. Despite the decline, Bodie had permanent residents through most of the 20th century, even after a fire ravaged much of the downtown business district in 1932. In fact, the\u00a0post office operated until\u00a01942, when the federal government required that all nonessential gold mines be shut down<\/strong> to support the war effort.<\/p>\n Just left Bodie<\/p><\/div>\n Bodie was designated a National Historic Landmark<\/strong> in 1961 and became a California State Park in 1962 when it was\u00a0named the state’s official gold rush town.\u00a0 Only a small part of the town has\u00a0survived,\u00a0with about 110 structures<\/strong> still standing, including one of the\u00a0gold mills. You can peer in the windows of\u00a0the commercial buildings and homes, many remain as they were left – stocked with goods and personal belongings.\u00a0 Dinner plates on are the tables<\/strong>, food is in the pantry (I’m guessing way past its “best by” date) and cars are abandoned by the roadside.\u00a0\u00a0I think these abandoned items are what\u00a0most intrigued me.\u00a0 It’s one thing to decide to leave town, but why did so many leave all of their belongings?\u00a0 After all, when most of the remaining Bodie residents left it was the height of the Depression, when clothing, food and furniture were in short supply for most.\u00a0 I’ve read some speculation that most residents just wanted to start over fresh<\/strong> and\u00a0 gave their belongings to the their friends while\u00a0some thought they would return for their belongings when things got better at the new gold strike over the next hill. I guess we’ll never know.<\/p>\n Bodie is an attraction not to be missed and if you’re at all interested, make a trip soon<\/strong>.\u00a0 The cash-strapped California Assembly has had Bodie on the chopping block for several years.\u00a0 The Bodie Foundation<\/strong> raises money to keep it open but it’s not known how long they can continue to do so.\u00a0 Just remember, if you go, bring a\u00a0spare tire and make sure your kidneys are in good shape.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0<\/sup><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Suzanne Sparrow Watson A friend recently posted a picture of herself in the ghost town of Bodie, California, an abandoned mining town in the Eastern Sierras.\u00a0 I thought we were the only people crazy enough to take the three … read more![\"Downtown](\"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Bodie-California-150x150.jpg\")
<\/a>![\"The](\"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/General-Store-150x150.jpg\")
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