California 30th October, a town called Bodie 2

February 03, 2015

We continued our exploration of Bodie walking up towards the Standard Mill. On our way we passed some more houses, a well and a couple of rusty wagons from the old railroad. The rails from this have long gone to scrap.

The Standard Mill and Mine stand on the side of a hill known as Bodie Buff. At one time several mines operated in the area round Bodie but all the smaller ones closed leaving just a few larger ones including the Standard Mine, originally known as the Bunker Hill Mine when registered in July 1861. It was sold for $67,000 dollars to four partners who changed the name to the Standard Consolidated Mining Company in 1877. In 25 years this mine produced nearly $15 million dollars worth of gold and caused the Bodie gold rush. Fire destroyed it in 1898 but it was rebuilt . In the years between 1860 and 1941 when this mine finally closed Bodie yielded close to $100 million in gold and silver.

The Mill was a stamping mill used to crush the ore. You cannot walk around this part of the site but they run tours in the summer.

We turned down Green Street, one of the main thoroughfares, passing several houses and peering through the windows. I discovered only last night that so many possessions were left in the houses as the occupants, after they had moved away, kept them as holiday homes. The habit in Bodie was not to lock your door so that when more tourists arrived with the advent of the motor car things started to get ransacked.

Looking back up Green Street towards the Mill

The school house is a large building which was constructed in 1879 after the first one was burnt down by a pupil. Bella Moore was Bodie's first teacher. The building has all the desks and toys laid out for the children.

We next passed the Wheaton and Hollis Hotel which was also the US Land Office. This had a number of artefacts inside and stood next door to the brick hydroelectric building and power substation. Energy for the mills was first fuelled by wood fires but Thomas Leggett, superintendent of the Standard Company thought it should be possible to carry electricity for long distances by wires. A hydroelectric plant was built 13miles away from Bodie and poles and lines set up. It was found to work, although, as it was thought electricity could not go round corners all the poles were installed in a straight line! Some of the poles seen at Bodie are these originals.

Wheaton and Hollis Hotel taken later in the day

The last thing we did before our stomachs demanded food was to go to the museum which had opened at last and buy a map and look at the artefacts. The museum is lodged in the Miners Union Hall which was used for social functions such as the annual 4th of July Grand Ball. The Miners Union Local 61, Western federation was one of the first organised unions in California.