Bodie Ghost Town, Part 1 - California
Exploratography Date: July and October of 2013
As the story goes, a little girl was informed by her parents that they were moving to Bodie, a town known for its wickedness, badmen and “the worst climate out of doors.” Thinking of the remote and infamous town prompted her to write in her diary: “Goodbye God, I’m going to Bodie.”
Sometimes that’s what it feels like while I’m on the last three-mile-stretch of road leading to the old Ghost Town (it’s a little, um, bumpy). But once I have the town in sight, I forget all about the rocky road and gaze in wonder at the town spread out before me. Although only about 5% of the buildings Bodie contained during its 1880s heyday still remain, the sight is still impressive.
William S. Bodey (also known as Waterman S. Body), arrived in California in 1848, having left his wife and two children in Poughkeepsie, New York. He sailed around the Cape on the Mathew Vasser, landing in San Francisco in 1849. He prospected up and down California’s western Sierras, before traveling to the eastern side of the mountains in 1859. It was here he and several companions discovered gold, and founded the town that would take his name.
Unfortunately, Bodey’s luck ran out later that year. He had decided to winter near his gold find with a Native American companion. On a supply run to Monoville in November, they got lost in a blizzard and when Bodey could go no farther, his companion left him and Bodey froze to death. His body was found the following spring.
Bodie began to rise to prominence as miners from the played out streams and rivers of California’s motherlode country, and Virginia City’s Comstock Lode region flooded the high desert country looking for the next big strike. By 1879, Bodie was home to an estimated 10,000 men, women and children. The town was home to sixty-five saloons and was plagued by robberies, stage holdups, street fights and killings….a veritable “sea of sin, lashed by the tempests of lust and passion.” I guess mines that took out over $100 million in gold over the years would attract all kinds of folks.
The town suffered its first serious fire in 1886, with a more destructive fire in 1892. But as the mines were still paying, the town kept going. After the turn of the century, Bodie began to decline. The mines weren’t producing as well as they had, stores began to close and people began to leave. Many mines closed and the railroad was eventually abandoned in 1917. And on June 23rd, 1932, another fire raged through town, destroying most of the buildings. The cause of the fire was reportedly a little boy playing with matches.
Bodie was designated a California State Historic Park in 1962, and since then has been kept in a state of “arrested decay.” It's one of my favorite ghost towns to visit and it's extremely difficult to take a bad picture while you're there. Everything is photogenic, even the trash left from the days of old. Below the jump are a few images I've shot over the years, I hope you enjoy them.
Addendum 2020: With the creation of the Exploratography.com website, I’ve been going through my photo files in an effort to somehow arrange them coherently. It’s taking a bit longer than I thought it would, so many pictures…. Anyway, upon perusing my Bodie section, two trips to the Ghost Town resulted in a ton of images. And I think there may be more on some forgotten drive, in the back of a dusty desk drawer. Not knowing how many photos a blog post can comfortably hold, Bodie Part 1 and Bodie Part 2 were born. Roughly 50 images each, in no particular order. I hope you enjoy the shots, it was definitely fun to look through them all again.
Reflection of the Boone Store and Warehouse, in the front windows of the Wheaton & Hollis Hotel. The hotel also served as a Land Office, the Power Company office and as a boarding house.
There is cool stuff laying all around the town, watch where you step!
Unfortunately, this area is fenced off and out-of-bounds. It would have been fun to hike up there to check things out.
Lots of cars around the park, in varying stages of operable-ness. The buildings too, some in pretty nice shape for their age and location, some not-so-much.
It’s always fun to take shots using a window, sometimes they work, sometimes not. These three turned out pretty well. Click on them to embiggen.
Located on the corner of Green and Park Streets, this is the James Stuart Cain Residence. Cain arrived in Bodie when he was 25 and became a very successful businessman. He was active in the lumber business, wagon freighting, the Bodie Railroad and Lumber Company and of course, mining. He eventually became the town’s principal property owner.
The Sawmill was mainly used for cutting firewood. The winter temperatures in Bodie, with winds up to 100 mph, could often drop many degrees below zero. Lots of firewood was needed to survive the harsh climate.
The majority of structures in Bodie are locked up, but there are a few that you can enter to see what was left when folks abandoned their town.
Bodie is definitely a town with texture. Whether wood, stone or metal, there is some amazing work and patterns to be found throughout the park.
Erected in 1882, the Methodist Church is the only church still standing in Bodie. The last services held in the building were in 1932.
There’s the Cali49 kid taking pictures.
The Stuart Kirkwood Livery Stable and Blacksmith Shop. This place must have been like a goldmine, servicing the hundreds of horses, mules and wagons that would haul freight into Bodie and out from the mines. The building behind the Stable was the Town Jail. Off in the distance are the ruins of the Mastretti Liquor Warehouse.
The Boone Store and Warehouse was built in 1879. It served the town as a General Store, operated by Harvey Boone, a direct descendant of Daniel Boone.
One of my favorite photo models in town, the Standard Mine and Mill complex. Originally known as the Bunker Hill Mine when it was registered in 1861, it was rechristened the Standard Consolidated Mining Company in 1877 when it was purchased by four partners for the sum of $67,000. Over a period of twenty-five years, the Standard Mine yielded nearly $15 million. Destroyed by fire in 1898, it was rebuilt the following year. The mill closed its operation in 1938.
Heading up Green Street, there are a number of homes on each side of the street. Checkout the glass insulators on the telephone poles.
I believe the brick ruin was part of the Bodie Bank.
The Standard Mill on the left, was the house on the right for the Mill manager or superintendent?
Once you’ve been to Bodie, you’ll recognize these two buildings anytime you see their picture. The brick on the left was erected by Postmaster George Putnam in 1879 and housed the Post Office for many years. It also served as Grandma Johnson’s rooming house and later as the Dechambeau Hotel.
The wooden structure on the right was built in 1880 by H. Ward, to house his undertaking business. The Bodie Odd Fellows Lodge, No. 279, used the upper floor for their meetings.
The Schoolhouse was built in 1879, originally serving as the Bon Ton Lodging House.
The cemetery area includes four cemeteries: Ward’s Cemetery, the Masonic Cemetery, the Miners’ Union Cemetery and the Chinese Cemetery. And an unoffical fifth cemetery, Boot Hill. Only “respectable” personages were allowed to be buried within the fences of the various boneyards. Others were consigned to Boot Hill, outside the fences. I didn’t see a Pet Sematary, thank goodness.
And with the stone monument that marks William Bodey’s mortal remains, thus endeth Bodie Ghost Town Part 1.
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