Bodie, California facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Bodie
Ghost town
County Barn, Bodie, California
Bodie Location in California Show map of California Bodie Location in the United States Show map of the United States
Country	United States
State	California
County	Mono
Founded	1876
Elevation	8,379 ft (2,554 m)
Population  (2020)
• Total	11
Time zone	UTC−8 (Pacific)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−7 (PDT)
Area codes	442/760
Climate	Dsc
Website	Bodie State Historic Park
Bodie Historic District
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. National Historic Landmark District
Map of Bodie, as of 1890
Location	California
Nearest city	Bridgeport, California
Architectural style	Various; Southwestern U.S. frontier-style, late-19th to early-20th century.
NRHP reference No.	66000213
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	October 15, 1966
Designated NHLD	July 4, 1961

Bodie is a famous ghost town in California. It sits in the Bodie Hills, east of the Sierra Nevada mountains. You can find it in Mono County, California, about 12 miles (19 km) east of Bridgeport. Bodie is very high up, at 8,379 feet (2,554 meters) above sea level.

Bodie became a busy "boom town" in 1876. This happened after people found a lot of gold there. By 1879, it had about 8,000 people and 2,000 buildings. But over time, the gold ran out, and people moved away. By 1915, it was known as a ghost town.

Today, Bodie is a special place called the Bodie Historic District. It is a National Historic Landmark. It is also a California Historical Landmark. In 1962, it officially became Bodie State Historic Park. About 200,000 people visit Bodie every year. The Bodie Foundation helps to support the park.

Bodie: California's Famous Ghost Town

How Bodie Began

Bodie started as a small mining camp in 1859. A group of gold seekers found gold there. One of these men was W. S. Bodey, and the town was named after him. Sadly, Bodey died in a snowstorm in November 1859. He never saw the town grow into a big settlement.

At first, Bodie was not very popular. Other towns like Aurora and Virginia City, Nevada were booming. They had found lots of silver and gold. By 1868, only two mining companies were in Bodie. Both of them failed.

The Gold Rush Boom

Bodie around 1890, when it was a busy town.

Everything changed in 1876. The Standard Company found a huge amount of gold. This discovery turned Bodie into a true Wild West boomtown. More gold was found in 1878, bringing even more people.

By 1879, Bodie had between 5,000 and 7,000 people. There were about 2,000 buildings. Some people thought Bodie was California's second or third largest city. However, the 1880 U.S. Census showed this was not true. Over the years, Bodie's mines produced gold worth about $34 million.

Bodie was busiest from late 1877 to late 1880. The town got its first newspaper in 1877. It was called The Standard Pioneer Journal of Mono County. A telegraph line was also built, connecting Bodie to nearby towns. People in California and Nevada thought Bodie would be the next big gold discovery. Many men came hoping to get rich.

Gold from Bodie's nine mills was sent to Carson City, Nevada. It traveled through other towns like Aurora. Guards often protected these valuable shipments. From Carson City, the gold went to the mint there or to the mint in San Francisco.

Life in a Busy Town

A saloon in Bodie.

As a busy gold mining town, Bodie had many services. It had a Wells Fargo Bank and four volunteer fire companies. There was a brass band and a railroad. Miners and mechanics had their own unions. The town also had several newspapers and a jail.

Main Street was a mile long. It had 65 saloons. Life in Bodie could be rough and exciting.

Bodie also had a Chinatown. It had hundreds of Chinese residents at one point. There was even a Taoist temple there.

The town had a cemetery on its edge. A mortuary was nearby. This mortuary is the only building made of thick red brick. This was likely for insulation from the weather. The cemetery has a section for the Miners Union. It also has a memorial for President James A. Garfield.

The Miners Union Hall is still on Main Street. It was a meeting place for workers. It also hosted dances, concerts, and plays. Today, it is a museum.

The Town Starts to Shrink

The Methodist Church, built in 1882.

Bodie started to decline in 1880. New gold discoveries in other states, like Butte, Montana and Tombstone, Arizona, drew people away. The single miners who came to get rich quickly moved on. Bodie then became more of a family town.

For example, the Methodist Church was built in 1882. The Roman Catholic Church was also built then, but it burned down later. Even with fewer people, the mines were still doing well. In 1881, Bodie produced $3.1 million in gold.

Also in 1881, a narrow-gauge railroad was built. It was called the Bodie Railway & Lumber Company. This railroad brought wood for building and for the mines. The wood came from Mono Mills, south of Mono Lake.

New Technology and a Short Comeback

In the early 1890s, Bodie had a short revival. New technology helped the mines. In 1890, a new method called the cyanide process was used. This helped get more gold and silver from leftover ore.

In 1892, the Standard Company built a hydroelectric plant. It was about 13 miles (21 km) away. This plant made electricity to power the company's mill. It was one of the first times electricity was sent over a long distance in the country.

By 1910, Bodie's population was 698 people. Most of these were families who chose to stay.

Bodie Becomes a Ghost Town

The official decline of Bodie began in 1912. That year, the last Bodie newspaper was printed. In 1913, the Standard Consolidated Mine closed. Gold profits were very low in 1914.

James S. Cain bought many parts of the town. He reopened the Standard mill. This made over $100,000 profit in 1915. But this was not enough to stop the town from shrinking. In 1917, the Bodie Railway was closed. Its tracks were removed. The last mine closed in 1942. This was because of a government order during World War II. Mining never started again.

People started calling Bodie a "ghost town" in 1915. Many people traveled to Bodie by car. In 1919, a newspaper tried to say Bodie was not a ghost town. But by 1920, only 120 people lived there.

Even after a big fire in 1932, some people stayed. The fire destroyed much of the downtown area. A post office was open in Bodie from 1877 to 1942.

Bodie State Historic Park

Bodie in May 1972.

In the 1940s, people worried about damage to the ghost town. The Cain family owned most of the land. They hired caretakers to protect the buildings. Martin Gianettoni was one of the last people in Bodie in 1943. He was also a caretaker.

Today, Bodie is a real Wild West ghost town. It was named a National Historic Landmark in 1961. In 1962, it became Bodie State Historic Park. About 170 buildings were still standing. Bodie is now California's official state gold rush ghost town.

Visitors usually come by SR 270. This road starts from US 395 near Bridgeport. The last three miles are a dirt road. There is another road to SR 167 near Mono Lake. But this road is very rough. The roads to Bodie are often closed in winter because of heavy snow.

Bodie is a popular place for night photography.

Bodie is kept in a state of "arrested decay." This means the buildings are preserved as they are. Only a small part of the town survived. About 110 buildings are still standing. This includes one of the old gold mills.

Visitors can walk the empty streets. They can see how the town once looked. The insides of buildings are left as they were. You can find small pieces of dishes or old nails. But it is against the rules to take anything from the park.

The California State Park ranger station is in one of the original homes. It is on Green Street.

In 2009 and 2010, Bodie was almost closed. But the California government found a way to keep it open. As of 2012, the park is still open. The Bodie Foundation helps manage it.

Bodie's Weather

An old 1937 Chevrolet coupe in Bodie.

Bodie has a special kind of cold climate. It has warm summers and long, snowy winters. Winds can blow very fast, sometimes up to 100 mph (160 km/h).

The weather is harsh because Bodie is very high up. It is on an open plateau. There are no mountains around to protect it from the wind. People needed a lot of firewood to stay warm. Bodie is not in a forest. So, wood had to be brought in from other towns. The winter of 1878–79 was very bad. Many people died that winter.

On average, Bodie has 22.7 days with temperatures above 80°F (27°C). It has 19.6 days where the temperature stays below freezing. There are 35 nights with temperatures below 0°F (-18°C). The hottest temperature ever was 91°F (33°C) on July 21, 1988. The coldest was -36°F (-38°C) on February 13, 1903.

Bodie gets about 11.79 inches (299 mm) of rain each year. August is usually the driest month. January is the wettest. On average, it snows about 93.2 inches (2.37 meters) each year. The snowiest year was 1965, with 269 inches (6.83 meters) of snow.

Bodie in Stories

• Bodie is the setting for the children's book Behind the Masks by Susan Patron.
• Kathleen Haun's book No Trees for Shade (2013) takes place in Bodie in 1880.
• The book Orphan Runaways (1998) by Kristiana Gregory is also set in Bodie.

See also

In Spanish: Bodie para niños