In 1859, nearly 150 years ago, gold was discovered in Mono County, California.  A mill was established in 1861, employing about 20 workers who were the founders of the town of Bodie.  By 1880, Bodie had grown to exceed 10,000 residents.  Like all boom towns that grew up around the gold strikes of the mid 19th century, the were saloons, hotels, brothels, thieves and scoundrels.  But there were also hard working, churchgoing, God-fearing people living in Bodie as well.  Again, as happened in other gold-induced boom towns, eventually the cost of extracting the gold exceeded the dwindling revenues generated by the mining endeavor.  The mine was no longer capable of supporting it’s workers, and this triggered the collapse of Bodie’s economy.  A fire in 1892 sealed the fate of the town of Bodie, and now it joins the ranks of other gold-rush era ghost towns.

Bodie is now operated as part of the California State Park system, and is opened to visitors (although the general public may not enter the buildings, except that select groups are allowed entry after-hours by special arrangement).   Mono County, where Bodie lies, is within the arid rain shadow of the mighty Sierra Nevada mountains.  The resulting dryness is ideal for the preservation of the surviving structures in the ghost town.

It seem obvious to me that pictures of a ghost town should convey a certain “ghastliness”,  so I have taken the liberty to doctor up the following photos.