Information about the california gold mining town of Bodie,
official state gold rush ghost town of California.
From the California State Library: Body Gold Rush Town
Bodie was designated as the official California State Gold
Rush ghost town in 2002. In 1962 it was named a National
Historic Site and a California State Historic Park. It once
housed a population of 10,000, but now it is preserved in a
state of arrested decay. What was left of the town's buildings
and contents remains as they did after the last resident
departed. Bodie is located northeast of Yosemite about 13
miles off of Highway 395 on Bodie Road and 7 miles south of
Bridgeport.
The exact source of the town's name remains unknown today.
It may have been named for gold miner W. S. Body also known
as William S. or Waterman S. Body or his name may have been
Wakeman S. Bodey. The name Bodie was given to the camp that
was near the site where he discovered gold in 1859. It was
not until 1877 when gold was discovered in quantity and the
population increased that Bodie grew in size from 3,000 up
to 10,000 by 1880. The mining boom ended in the early 1880's
and by 1888 about $18,000,000 worth of gold had been mined,
but only 3 mines were left from the 40 to 50 that had existed
during the boom years.
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