Side Trail Article
Bodie California: Dead but not Forgotten
Scott Gese

Bodie, California

It started out simple enough. The way many western towns did in the 1800's. A gold strike, a few tents and a lot of high hopes. The Bodie mining camp was no different.

The year was 1859. W.S. Body had discovered gold in California. It was in an area east of the Sierra Nevada mountain range along the California/Nevada border.

The Standard Stamp Mill in Bodie, California

It was here that a gold mining camp was set up and named after Body. The camp continued to grow and before long a few permanent buildings were built. It was an eventual misspelling by a local sign painter that changed the name forever. It had soon become known as Bodie. It was about this same time, other gold camps around Bodie were also growing. As they became better known, this small mining camp struggled to maintain its foothold in their shadow.

There was enough gold coming out of Bodie to entice a couple of stamp mills to try their luck. But after several years of meager returns, both failed. It looked like this mining town was about to go the way of so many others. A flash in the pan and then gone, never to be heard of again.

Bodie...only the shells of its former glory remain.

For good and for bad, Bodie had certainly made a name for itself. The get-rich-quick mentality of the towns businesses ran only as deep as the men who worked the Bodie mines.

By 1880 many of these mines were showing little promise. With mining towns in nearby states beginning to boom, many of the original Bodie miners packed up and moved on to greener pastures. This caused most of the unproductive mines to close, leaving only a handful of the more lucrative mines to continue operating.

Bodie Methodist Church

By 1883 the town's population had dwindled to around 800. This quieted the town down to the point where it was more conducive to a family atmosphere. In fact, in 1882, a couple of churches were even built.

The remaining Bodie mines began to peter out and close down. Without steady work, many of these miners left to find other opportunities. By the late 1880's, Bodie's population was in steady decline. In 1892 a major fire broke out. It burned a large portion of the town. By 1910 a mere 700 people remained. In 1912 the one remaining Bodie newspaper printed its final edition. Five years later, the demand for cord wood and building supplies had diminished. The Bodie railway had become unprofitable and it too was finally abandoned.

In 1931 another disastrous fire destroyed much of what remained of the town.

The last mine closed in 1942 as World War II began to intensify. In total, at an average price of $20 an once, about $34 million in gold was produced from the Bodie mines.

The following year Bodie was designated an authentic western ghost town.

Of the 2000+ buildings at its peak, about 170 remain.

Wheaton and Hollis Hotel and Bodie Store

Over the years, most abandoned western towns have been left to the elements. Fortunately for Bodie, the town was taken over by the California Dept. of Parks and Recreation. It was registered as a historic landmark in 1962. The town is now preserved in what is known as “arrested decay”. This means the buildings are only protected from further decay, but not restored. Bodie is now a National Historic Site and a California State Historic Park. It is administered by the Bodie Foundation. Bodie currently receives about 200,000 visitors a year from all over the world. Visitors can enjoy a leisurely stroll down its dusty main street. Their imaginations only guessing at what this once booming town must have been like 150 years ago.