In 1876, the Standard Company discovered a profitable deposit of gold-bearing ore (due to a freak mine cave-in), which transformed Bodie from an isolated mining camp comprising a few prospectors and company employees to a Wild West boomtown. Rich discoveries in the adjacent Bodie Mine during 1878 attracted even more hopeful people. By 1879, Bodie had a population of approximately 5000–7000 people and around 2,000 buildings. Over the years, Bodie's mines produced gold valued at nearly US$34 million. By then, the town of Bodie bustled with families, robbers, miners, store owners, gunfighters, prostitutes and people from every country in the world. At one time there was reported to be 65 saloons in town. Among the saloons were numerous brothels and 'houses of ill repute', gambling halls and opium dens - an entertainment outlet for everyone.
Hardships and violence aside, Bodie was a thriving, bustling place. However, like other boom towns, Bodie’s period of glory was brief, lasting from 1879 to 1882. The decline was slow, with the two major mines-the Bodie and the Standard-merging in 1887 and operating successfully for the next two decades. A disastrous fire struck in 1892 and with a steady decline in the interim, including additional mine closings and abandonment of the Bodie Railway in 1917, another devastating fire destroyed much of the town in 1932. Although Bodie was already dying, further decline having resulted from Prohibition and the Depression, some mining continued. However, there were no new strikes and companies eked out only minor profits, largely by using the cyanide process to extract gold from old tailings (i.e., mine refuse). By the 1950s even this recovery operation ceased and Bodie became a ghost town.
In 1962, after years of neglect, Bodie became a State Historic Park, and two years later the Ghost Town of Bodie was dedicated as a California Historic Site. It has also been designated a National Historic Site. Bodie is maintained in a state of what is termed “arrested decay,” which means the buildings are protected but not restored. Bodie is located in the Basin Range of the Eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains, about 13 miles East of Highway 395 in central California. Today you can visit Brodie and checkout this once booming town! Definitely a trip worth making!
Bodie is a rare example of the dry-summer subarctic climate, with warm summers and long, snowy winters. Winds can sweep across the valley at close to 100 miles per hour. Nights remain cold even through the summer, often dropping well below freezing. The harsh weather is due to a particular combination of high altitude (8,400 feet) and a very exposed plateau, with little in the way of a natural surrounding wall to protect the long, flat piece of land from the elements.
To experience Bodi with it's haunting beauty don't waste time come on up to Mammoth Lakes this summer and escape the LA heat and immerse your self in the natural and maybe even supernatural sights and sounds that are Bodi.
Need a place to stay during your visit to Bodi. Visit MammothRentalBy Owner.com for accommodations that won't leave you feeling haunted
http://mammothrentalbyowner.com/index.html (818)883-2488
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