Bodie Historic Park

[Jeff95531]

While looking for one thing, I found another. Anybody been there/done that? It sounds like a fascinating place.

https://roadtrippers.com/places/bodie-historic-park-lee-vining/4f5e24d846d09d675b000dfc?mode=explore

https://roadtrippers.com/us/bodie-ca/attractions/bodie-ghost-town

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Diving for Pleasure and Treasure - Grab it through Amazon!

[goldenmojo]

Stopped there in the mid 70's. cool place. Was offered a job by state of cal about 15 years ago as caretaker but did not take it as I did not want to relocate.

 

[H-2 CHARLIE]

I believe that park it OFF limits for any detecting or digging of any kind .

 

[KevinInColorado]

I believe that park it OFF limits for any detecting or digging of any kind .

The web site says it's on private land so you'd be stealing!

 

[63bkpkr]

Bodie,
I've not thought about that particular location for some time though I remember it well.

When I last visited it what existed there was the small park rangers headquarters and the hills around it. Also on the hills were all these little houses. My buddy and I asked the rangers a few questions, one of which was could we target practice anywhere around there. We were directed to an area some distance away and were told to be safe. Somehow we got to hiking in the area and found ourselves on the hill above the rangers building and there were all these little huts. None of them were locked or had any signs on them so I opened one's door. Inside there was nothing except an 'old' wheelbarrow. Curiosity got the best of me so I walked over, tilted the wheelbarrow away from the wall to find there were three boxes there stacked neatly on top of each other. The top box had rotted exposing the contents which looked somewhat like railroad flares with the most of the paper rotted off. Next to these cylinders was all of this crystal clear jelly like substance. One of the paper sleeves was barely readable and it said "Hercules Powder Company". I gently replaced the wheelbarrow and my buddy and I left the dynamite storage shed far behind.

Also in the area we had a badger dare us to advance on it, mind you we were driving in my friends CJ-5. We had a few other thrills there that I will not go into but in all it was a very eventful time and it did leave an impression on me. Mean country if you come unprepared......................63bkpkr

ps - I've no need to return for a 2nd visit

 

[rodoconnor]

Bodie is sure worth the price of admission [free]. If you get the chance to visit it, do so. It's a State Park so any rockhounding/prospecting/mining/etc is prohibited. Besides , legend has it, bad luck to anyone who removes anything from Bodie. Cool story 63

 

[Jeff95531]

Exactly. Bad karma. I wouldn't risk it.

 

[Goldwasher]

I used to live very close to Bodie....very cool place lots of stuff in the surrounding area. A lot of active claims as well. It is a state park not private land. Surrounded by public land.

 

[spillercanyon]

Great ghost town, for a State Park. You cannot enter most buildings but they have them set up to look through the windows and see lots of old stuff still inside, a lot of buildings still in decent shape. If you go, be sure to take a tour of the mill (which is off limits except when on a tour), I believe it was $5, well worth the price to walk around an old mill that is still very intact. As far as prospecting, not in the park but lots of areas around it.

 

[Aufisher]

Worth the trip for sure. Very cool!

 

[Armchair prospector]

Was there a few years back and was told that they were going to have it mined again because of the price of gold and that there was still a great amount to be taken out. Never heard anything after that.

 

[dave wiseman]

An elderly neighbor of mine in Angels Camp,Ca. Artis Hanna and her husband Mark Hanna lived there in the 1930's for a year or more.He was an assayer at one of the mines.They couldn't take the harsh winters.

 

[H-2 CHARLIE]

Some years it don't even get any snow like it used to years and years back

 

[Goldwasher]

In the area yes.... there are active and very old claims in the Bodie Hills, and the placer area's near old Dogtown. I guess the grandfathered claims could mine but, the permitting would never go through....also the meadow between the town and the mines and mill is poisoned from the old operations. Betcha' nowadays if any mine of the scope necessary to profit, in those types of deposits, tried to open the environmental studies would create a superfund site!!! Bye bye tourists to Bodie.........I'm glad its the way it is. Did you guys know the one of the first major transmissions of AC electricity took place in Bodie. Back then they still thought that bends in the transmission lines caused resistance. So they tried to run the lines in as straight a path as possible. Its amazing how much history is in that area of California and Nevada. Millions of dollars into the economy of the nation. Now it is all laying in the sand and the sage brush, tucked up on the piney hillsides.....rusting away, glistening in the sun light or picked up and moved to some other canyon you will have to go visit....I am glad most people drive right through. But, if you get the chance stop by Bodie..

Was there a few years back and was told that they were going to have it mined again because of the price of gold and that there was still a great amount to be taken out. Never heard anything after that.

 

[kuger]

Bodie is sure worth the price of admission [free]. If you get the chance to visit it, do so. It's a State Park so any rockhounding/prospecting/mining/etc is prohibited. Besides , legend has it, bad luck to anyone who removes anything from Bodie. Cool story 63

not sure when you were there last,its not free

 

[delnorter]

Kuger, welcome back, long time no hear. How's everything?

Mike

 

[rodoconnor]

Kuger It's been a while since I've been there.

 

[G-bone]

Took the Family in June.
Just amazes me what these people endured as Daily life, back in the day.
Such harsh environment to live in, day after day. Just brutal.
Then you ad in that everyone goes half crazy and always drunk or on opium.
A shooting a day I believe...minimum.

Awesome place to visit if you're into that part of history.

 

[Goldwasher]

Took the Family in June.
Just amazes me what these people endured as Daily life, back in the day.
Such harsh environment to live in, day after day. Just brutal.
Then you ad in that everyone goes half crazy and always drunk or on opium.
A shooting a day I believe...minimum.

Awesome place to visit if you're into that part of history.

One must realize what most everyone endured at the time regardless of location. Even as remote as Bodie was and the elements think of the camps in the Rockies....or northern Nevada.... the Death Valley Camps....Everyone may have been half a foot shorter back then but, they sure had a thousand more pounds of fortitude and drive.
True that there were opium dens and saloons and the western frontier could be a violent place. There is however a misconception burned into legend and lore. Just like today it is a certain percentage of our population geared towards vice. Factually and statistically that percentage has gone down over the ages regardless of what media shows us. And stories of the old camps are typically blown up. That is why you often hear of one or two local characters and the occasional gang or group of family ruffians. Bodie was in existence as an industrial hub for decades. Much longer than most camps especially local to Bodie. It had families into the 1930's. One shooting a day maybe....there were deadly weeks and drunken bloody hot summer nights but, she was no murder city.One must keep in mind that Bodie was a commercial mining town. No men no production. Mines and Mills are dangerous enough, and the reality is that those production figures and a town of that size with the sort of industry and innovation could not have come from a town where "Everyone " was drunk or junked out "every night". The mine and mill owners wouldn't have it. The red light district and China town in Bodie were very small yet, amazingly conspicuous. They do not compare to the sophistication of the rest of town. Which is also the reason the parts of town built by money and vision are what stand today (some barely, some beautifully). and the red light district is a pile of wood, glass, and rust near the north parking lot and the pit toilets where the drifters can come and go from the tent camps on the out skirts of town and the trails, Just like today except you pay a fee to park and visit like Kuger said! (Hey Bud good to see your name pop up)

Side note...anyone interested in the area that doesn't know all too much about it should look up places like Aurora,Nevada Masonic,Ca.....and the Convict Lake Murders.
some more cool reading on the area.

 

[Goldwasher]

Here are some pics I took at Bodie a few years ago.