Could You Bodie?

[Subdeacon Joe]

From the Bodie FB page

"

Throwback Thursday
Imagine living in a town where everything you consume, wear and use, comes in on wagons. Gold and silver discoveries in the mines of Bodie led to a quick surge in population as people came to find their fortunes. Many came not to work in the mines but to set up shop to sell supplies, food, and drink to miners and their families. 

The town, at 8,375 feet, was too high and too cold to grow food. And the rocky soil meant there was little tree growth. As the mining district grew, the mine owners brought in steam engines. That meant they needed wood; close to 300 cords a day. Bodie relied on lumber mills from Bridgeport, Lee Vining, Lundy Canyon. In 1881, a narrow-gauge railroad brought Jeffrey Pine wood from Mono Mills, east of Mono Lake.

Mono Lake ranches provided beef, poultry, eggs, and dairy products. Farmers also grew vegetables, such as corn, potatoes, carrots, and onions. And alfalfa was a major crop needed to feed animals. The growing season was short near the lake, so fruits and vegetables also came from Carson City, Smith and Mason Valleys in Nevada, as well as Sacramento and Sonora. San Francisco oysters were packed in ice and shipped to town restaurants.

A “Bodie News Items” column in the Yerington Times of October 27, 1877 reported “Over 100 tons of freight was received by our merchants during the past week.”
Farther down in the same column, “Bodie is a decidedly lively mining camp — from twenty-five to fifty arrivals daily and the streets crowded with strangers. Real estate is changing hands, and town lots are in great demand.”

Two years later, an article in Sacramento’s Pacific Bee newspaper of August 16, 1879, discussed how the town was, if anything, busier. “Good beds are in demand in Bodie but additional lodging houses are going up every day as fast as lumber can be obtained.”

The writer also described the scene on the roads in Bodie: “Of course this is a great teaming point. Wagons loaded with merchandise, lumber, ore, wood or hay are continually passing. Drawn by from five to twelve yoke of oxen or spans of mules, they recall to mind the busy streets of Sacramento in the ante-railroad days.”

Photo of a busy Main Street in 1879 by R.E. Wood, courtesy of California State University, Chico, Meriam Library Special Collections.
 #ThrowbackThursday"

 

[Wallaby Jack, SASS #44062]

 

 

 

      ..... not for me, ........ I like indoor plumbing way too much ......  🙃

[Subdeacon Joe]

6 hours ago, Wallaby Jack, SASS #44062 said:

 

 

 

      ..... not for me, ........ I like indoor plumbing way too much ......  🙃

 

 

Especially running hot water.

[irish ike, SASS #43615]

Bodie in the winter gets a deep snow pack. I wonder if they stocked up during the summer. Or tried to get everything through on cleared roads.  MUDDDDDDDDDDDD.

[Subdeacon Joe]

58 minutes ago, irish ike, SASS #43615 said:

Bodie in the winter gets a deep snow pack. I wonder if they stocked up during the summer. Or tried to get everything through on cleared roads.  MUDDDDDDDDDDDD.

 

Cleared roads?   Hell's bells!  (Or is it Hell's Belles?) They can't keep the roads open in winter now.   

[Pat Riot]

Bodie is a neat place to visit. The whole town is a historical museum. 
 

The thing that stuck with me about Bodie is if you lived there in its heyday the noise from the rock crushers was 24/7. One lady, who was a park employee likened the sound to numerous pile drivers all operating at the same time. Wow!

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

Lots of gold / silver / etc. had lots offolks who showed up "to mine the miners".

 

One of the most famous was Levi Strauss.

 

Studebaker was another.  (Did you know they made wheel barrows?