This was our first, but not last trip to Bodie, there is so much to see and it needs to be photographed in all the different light and seasons. This is the start of my Bodie Gallery.


William S. Body found gold here in 1859. The mining camp grew slowly from 1860 to the mid-1870's. The discovery of several new rich gold veins in 1876-77 started a rush to Bodie. In 1880 the town grew to nearly 8,000 residents. By 1882 most of the mines were worked out, but mining continued on a smaller scale up to World War I. After that the population rapidly declined. At the onset of World War II, the school an post office closed and the last residents left town. During its heydays, Bodie was the epitome of the wild, rip-roaring West, complete with a red light district and its own Chinatown. At one point there were 65 Saloons. Without question Bodie bordered on the lawless. On September 5, 1880 the daily Bodie Standard reported three shootings and two holdups of stages. The towns reputation gave rise to the phrase "Bad Man from Bodie" Reverend F.W. Warrington rather luridly described Bodie as "a sea of sin, lashed by the tempests of lust and passion."