Bodie

Driving east of the Sierras we find a place that is cooler and clearly wetter than the central valley and the western slopes of the mountains. At the end of a narrow paved road followed by a drive on dirt we come to the ghost town of Bodie.

Above is the Methodist Church built in 1882. There used to also be a Catholic Church as well (also from 1882) but it burned in 1928.

Although it once held as many at 10,000 people, only about 5% of the structures from its heyday still stand. Multiple fires have seen to that.

Although gold was discovered here by W. S. Bodey in 1859, not much happened until a mine collapse revealed a rich body of gold ore in 1875. Between 1875 and 1881, there were thirty mines and over 60 saloons. Along with all the usual suspects to "support" the miners, this was a wild  place filled with prostitutes, opium dens, and lots of bad hombres.  

Yet there remains a church.

The history preserved here covers several eras. Not only are there buildings from the boom time, there are things to see from later times in the '20's and even until the mining ended in 1942.

There are building that seem to be especially "ghostly" with interiors that seems to simply have been abandoned.

The house used by a resident, J.S. Cain, has a large window in front. This makes a nice place to grab a reflection of the rest of town and the hill on which it sits.

On the edge of town is a large mine works, the Standard Mill. It was the most successful of the 30+ mines here. Much of it appears to be in a useable state even now. However, entrance is only allowed by guided tour since the structure is no longer completely safe. Yet, there are always buildings nearby that remind you of the age of the place.

From our modern perspective, these structures often look like something from a 1940's western movie. Except that it is falling over very slowly, this one could have been in any John Wayne movie ever made.