A Year In Bodie

A Year in Bodie follows the lives of Carl and Margaret Chavez from October 1966 to October 1967 in the harsh, isolated conditions of Bodie State Historic Park where Carl began his career as a park ranger for the California Department of Parks and Recreation. His wife Margaret, pregnant at the time, endured the challenging conditions and environment of Bodie, yet somehow managed to thrive and provide a loving home. Her account of those times from a womans perspective give us a glimpse of a time that is no longer with us.

The Bodie Mining District was established in 1860 after the discovery of gold deposits in the area. Bodie's largest boom ended just over twenty years later, but the town survived into the twentieth century supported by a few small but steady mines. Mining ended with World War II. What remained of the town became a state park in 1964. In Bodie's Gold, author Marguerite Sprague uncovers the original sources of information whenever possible, from the first mining claims to interviews with former Bodieites. Enhanced with numerous historic photographs and extracts from newspapers of that period, as well as by the reminiscences of former residents, the book offers a fascinating account of life in a Gold Rush boomtown. The book is now available in a new, easier-to-handle paperback edition that will make it more convenient for readers who want to carry if with them in a car or backpack.

The mid-19th century mining town of Bodie, California located at 8,369 feet, atop the Sierra Nevada Mountains, just 3 1/2 miles from the Nevada border, was considered one of the richest gold and silver mining towns in the west. Geologists who know of its present rich ore deposits, say it could have been again, but since it became a California historic state park in 1962, that possibility was terminated. The old town, now the best preserved ghost town in the Nation, is maintained in a state of arrested decay by the State of California, meaning it will never be restored to its once rough and tough condition of the 1870s, but it is prevented from further deterioration through a system of constant repair. The public is encouraged to visit the old town, and this book is a compilation of stories, news items, historic information, and reports of its past, some true, some possibly true, and some probably outright lies by citizens of the past and news reporters who wrote for the many old newspapers that described life as it was lived in the years immediately following the Civil War. Authors Jim Watson, photographer, and Doug Brodie, former newspaper reporter, have obtained items heretofore never explained nor described in writings about the old town. Their research has made this book a one of a kind publication.

Based on three decades of research, this book tells the story of mining in the former boomtown of Bodie, CA. Woven throughout are accounts of gambled fortunes, engineering marvels, and vigilante uprisings. Tracing Bodie's history from the discovery of gold in 1877 to the departure of its last residents in the 1940s, the book includes scores of never-before-published photos.

Contains captioned, archival photographs that provide insights into the history of Bodie, California.