Bodie, 1880

[Subdeacon Joe]

From the Bodie Foundation Facebook Group 

 

Throwback Thursday
A Happy Thanksgiving to all! As you gather today, enjoy this look back at Thanksgiving Day in Bodie in 1880, as recounted by author Warren Loose, in his book, “Bodie Bonanza.”

“A Grand Thanksgiving Ball was held at the Music Hall on the second floor of Silas B. Smith’s store. And Berlinger and Frank’s Quadrille Band furnished music for a packed floor of happy celebrating merrymakers until morning.”

The day after Thanksgiving, it was clear that others enjoyed the holiday as happily, despite their circumstances. The local newspapers printed a card from prisoners in the Bodie Jail. It read: “We, the boarders of the Hotel de Kirgan express our heartfelt and sincere thanks and gratitude to the proprietor of said institution for the courteous manner and bountiful feast of which we partook for Thanksgiving Dinner.”

The prisoners’ note closed with well-wishes for Constable John F. Kirgan, the man in charge of the jail.

“Hoping that Mr. Kirgan may live to enjoy the good of this world and Thanksgiving dinners for many years, we remain, respectfully, The Boarders.”
#ThrowbackThursday

[Pat Riot]

Thank you Joe and Happy Thanksgiving 

 

For those that go not know, Bodie is an old mining town in California that is now a state park / museum. The whole town is fairly intact as it was many years ago. It’s definitely worth a trip to visit. 
 

Don’t let the Spartan website fill you. It’s a very cool place to visit. 

https://www.bodie.com/

 

http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=509
 

https://www.monocounty.org/places-to-go/bodie/

 

[bgavin]

Elevation is 8379' so go during good weather.
Our last trip there was in the 1980s when the kids were young.

There was a young man there in Rebel war uniform and he posed for me.
I was shooting film double exposures at the time to create ghosts.
First shot with him in the frame, second shot with him out of the frame.
This creates a highly detailed ghost of him, with the rest of the landscape sharp.

I figure in this modern age of Instagram baloney, Bodie is probably overrun with cell-phone photographers.
I'm glad we saw America before they came along.

[Injun Ryder, SASS #36201L]

Took this pic in Bodie around Christmas in the late 90's.

 

[Subdeacon Joe]

1 hour ago, Pat Riot, SASS #13748 said:

Thank you Joe and Happy Thanksgiving 

 

For those that go not know, Bodie is an old mining town in California that is now a state park / museum. The whole town is fairly intact as it was many years ago. It’s definitely worth a trip to visit. 
 

Don’t let the Spartan website fill you. It’s a very cool place to visit. 

https://www.bodie.com/

 

http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=509
 

https://www.monocounty.org/places-to-go/bodie/

 

 

 

When I was there in the mid-1970s, and you could still wander around a lot, I was poking through what was left of the town dump.  Found a bit of steel scrap.  About 1/4 inch thick, 7 or 8 inches long and about a foot wide.  There were marks from 1/4 or 3/8 cold chisels in it where it looked like someone had cut out 12" diameter circles.  Maybe for spacers for pipe flanges or something.    Seeing that made me think of just how much brute physical labor went into life of that era.  Heck, of any era.  

[Big Sage, SASS #49891 Life]

I was born and raised in California (lived there till I retired in 2000). I used to hunt deer around the Bodie area. Visited there a lot before it was a state park. If you are in the area, stop and see it.