****CLICK ON A PHOTO TO ENLARGE IT****

Bodie is located in California, about 50mi (80.5km) south of Lake Tahoe in the Eastern foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, at an elevation of 8375ft (2553m). Gold was discovered in 1859 and the first and largest gold mine, the Standard Mine, was registered in July 1861; there were ultimately about 30 gold mines in the area.

Bodie became a boom town in 1877; by 1879 the population increased to 10,000, making it the second largest city in California (behind San Francisco). Processing the gold ore involved using both cyanide and mercury; one of the earliest signs of mercury poisoning the miners experienced was loss of teeth and hair. They earned $4 a day for their twelve hour shift, so it's not surprising that sixty five of the 2000 buildings were saloons, and every other building along the mile long Main Street was a saloon.

In addition to bars were numerous brothels, gambling halls, and opium dens. It was a wild town, and rumored that there was a man killed almost every day. One little girl, whose family was moving to Bodie, wrote in her diary: "Goodbye God, I'm going to Bodie."

Bodie started to decline in 1882; the population dropped to 3000. It became a glost town about 1940, and there are about 200 structures still standing. In 1961 it became a State Historic Park and a National Historic Landmark.

For additional information: http://www.bodie.com/tl.asp
http://www.legendsofamerica.com/CA-Bodie.html