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Survey of Historic Sites and Buildings

	BODIE California
Location: Mono County. Bodie State Historic Park

Ownership and Administration. State of California; Division of Beaches and Parks.

Significance. As yields from the California Mother Lode decreased in the 1850's, prospectors crossed the Sierra Nevada and explored the eastern slope. The first strike at Bodie, of gold placers, occurred in 1859, but difficulties in transporting supplies and equipment over the mountains and deserts restricted activities. Then in the late 1870's prospectors discovered a gold zone "bigger than the Comstock"—2-1/2 miles in length and nearly 1 mile in width. The town mushroomed to 10,000 people and the usual assortment of gambling dens and saloons. Because of the shootings, stabbings, and brawls that occurred nightly, the town came to be known as "Shooters Town." While the boom lasted, the Bodie mines produced approximately $400,000 in bullion monthly. The Standard Mine alone yielded nearly $15 million over a 25-year period. The mines began to play out by the mid-1880's, but mining continued intermittently until World War II. Since that time the town has been deserted.

From a distance the well-preserved ghost town of Bodie, today a California State historical park, appears to be a small, active village.

Bodie is significant not so much because of the estimated $70 million mined in the vicinity but because its history is typical of the strike, boom, and decline cycle of Western mining communities. In location, setting, and isolation, it may be considered a prototype of the Western ghost town.

Present Appearance. Situated in the high desert country near Mono Lake, Bodie is unusual because so many original buildings have survived in good condition. From a distance, it still appears to be a small, active village. More than a hundred dwellings, mostly of wood and weathered a dust-brown color, are still standing. Bodie is today a State historical park. [4]

NHL Designation: 07/04/61