Secrets of Bodie - California ghost town - Brief Article

Sunset, July, 2000 by Lora J. Finnegan

Guided tours illuminate California's loveliest ghost town

"Bodie saw her glory years from 1877 to 1882, when the town burst with up to 10,000 people, all dreaming of getting rich from the gold mines," says guide Christine Spiller as she stands on the rickety steps of the 1882 Methodist Church in Bodie State Historic Park. Set east of the Sierra Nevada on the edge of the Great Basin, amid a sea of sage, this is perhaps the most remarkable ghost town in California--extensive and well preserved. It's big enough, in fact, that you need help to really appreciate it. Tours help unlock Bodie's secrets.

On this blindingly bright summer day, the wind whips at Spiller's long period skirt and blows tumbleweeds down the streets. The town she walks us through today, with more than 170 structures, represents a fraction of boomtown Bodie.

"Main Street was a mile long, with wall-to-wall buildings," notes Spiller, her footsteps echoing on the weathered boardwalk. "There were about 65 saloons. On a Saturday night, you would have heard gunshots, breaking glass, piano music--all set against the ever-present din of the ore stamp mills on the hill."

Down the street from the church, we peer into the Boone Store on Main, where preserved boxes for Ghirardelli ground chocolate sit by Boss of the Road overalls. Around the corner on Green Street, looking into the schoolhouse windows, we see primers covered with dust, a flag hanging limp, a delicate pen in an inkwell. It looks as if the students simply stepped out for recess and never returned. "Look through Bodie's windows and you get a fascinating picture of how these people lived," Spiller says.

Over the years, the mines played out, and fires and neglect took their toll on Bodie. A wealth of now-historic artifacts had already been abandoned by the fire of 1932, when most of the town's remaining residents departed. "When they left, people took what belongings they could carry," says Spiller, "and most moved on to the next job or mining strike as fast as they could."

Newly acquired land preserves ghostly vistas

The arid climate and isolated locale helped to minimize the deterioration and vandalism other ghost towns faced. Today the park's mandate is to maintain the buildings in a state of "arrested decay," with a crew working each summer to stabilize buildings.

Organized by the nonprofit Friends of Bodie, the walking tours highlight Bodie history. One tour winds its way to a stamp mill (the Standard Consolidated Mill); the other, called the Historic Mining District Tour, ends up on a ridge near a mine shaft (now closed for safety reasons). The ridge has only recently been added to the park, thanks to a conservation effort that purchased a 517-acre tract (saving it from becoming a noisy open pit mine). "When you're up there gazing down on the town, you get a fresh perspective on Bodie," Spiller claims. Indeed, from this height, you see a poignantly beautiful ruin of a town, swallows darting about her rooftops, her wood walls bleached golden by the high-desert sun.

Bodie travel planner

Bodie is 100 miles northeast of Yosemite Valley; from Bridgeport, drive about 7 miles south on U.S. 395 to Bodie Rd. (State 270) and east 13 miles to the park (the last 3 miles are unpaved but passable).

PARK DETAILS. Bodie State Historic Park: 8-7 daily through Labor Day; $2, $1 ages 6 and under. (760) 647-6445 or www cal-parks.ca.gov.

At the Bodie Museum (9-6 daily; free) pick up self-guided tour brochures ($1) or take a Standard Consolidated Mill tour (daily; $4) or the Historic Mining District Tour (Thu-Sun; $4). Free history talks are given daily at Methodist Church.

LODGING AND DINING. Contact the Bridgeport Chamber of Commerce at (760) 932-7500.