|
Road trips: Take a side trip to Bodie, California's biggest ghost town |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Written by Keith Sheffield/Tahoe World
|
|
Wednesday, 04 October 2006 |
|
|
|
|
 It’s no wonder Bodie is a ghost town. A few miles off Highway 395, the landscape turns to moonscape. There are no trees, no shade — only dust and brush for miles.
But it's a wonder — or perhaps a testament to the hysteria of the gold rush — that the desolate landscape once supported 10,000 people.
Today, at 8,375 feet above sea level, the abandoned town rests in a state of “arrested decay” after a few decades of life as a rough-and-tumble gold rush town. Now the town’s only residents are a few rangers who help maintain the park’s structures.
As if frozen in time well after its heyday, many of the homes in Bodie still contain furniture left by settlers. The school house has scratches on the chalkboard and desks inevitably covered in a thin layer of desert dust.
 Located about 120 miles south west of Lake Tahoe, Bodie is an excellent place to spend a day wandering through ruins of America’s past and imagining what life was like in a shoot-‘em-up mining town.
Known as one of the most lawless mining camps in the West, Bodie was settled in 1859 by Waterman S. Body and Black Taylor. The town grew from a few dozen to 10,000 people in about 20 years. Bodie boasted 60 saloons and dance halls at its height, a short, three-year period following the Standard Mining Company’s strike of gold and silver in 1877. Despite the harsh winters, the mining boom lured not only prospectors, but also wood suppliers, entrepreneurs, prostitutes and Chinese laborers.
 As mining began to decline, so did the population. By 1900, the population of Bodie was 1,000. And in 1932, a fire destroyed all but 10 percent of the town — the structures that tourists can still see today. All mining was halted in 1942, and in 1962 Bodie became a state park.
The road to bodie:
Take Highway 395 South toward Bridgeport. Seven miles south of Bridgeport, take State Route 270. Go 10 miles to the end of the paved road and continue three miles on a dirt road to Bodie.
Bodie State Historic Park is open year round. The museum is open daily during the summer. Hours are 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekends, Memorial Day through Labor Day. The remainder of the year it's open 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
 There are no commercial facilities at Bodie, so be sure to pack a lunch and bring lots of water.
For more information, call (760) 647-6445, or go to www.parks.ca.gov.
Photos by Keith Sheffield/Tahoe World
Only registered users can write comments.
Please login or register. Powered by AkoComment 2.0! |
|
Last Updated ( Wednesday, 04 October 2006 )
|
