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Bodie

By October 26, 2009One Comment

Bodie sign On the east side of the Sierra, a short drive from Lee Vining and the bottom of Tioga Pass is the USA’s biggest and most well preserved ghost town, now managed in a state of ‘arrested decay’ as a state park.
Back in the late 1800s Bodie was California’s second largest town – with a population estimated to be around 10,000 people. In 1859 gold was discovered near what is now called Bodie Bluff. A mill was established in 1861, and the town boomed from 20 or so miners to over 10,000 in a very short time. Due in part to its transient population, remote location and incredibly harsh weather Bodie developed a reputation as one of the baddest towns in the west, with dozens of brothels, over 65 saloons and murders occurring regularly. The town maintained a permanent population until after WWII, but steadily went into decline. It was declared a state park for preservation purposes in the early 1960s.
For a modest entrance fee you can wander the empty streets, peer at dusty goods through shop windows and try to imagine what the town felt like in its heyday.
Bodie, main street
Cart, hotel and shop buildings.
Hotel and shop
Long abandoned car
House
Tourists reflected in window
Typewriter
General store wares
Tourists and house
Bottles in museum
Mining equipment
Child's toy

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