A City Grown from the Eastern High Sierra Mud

Men, women and children came from all of the U.S. states, and from the world, to live and work here during the Bodie heyday. At the height of the boom in 1881, Bodie claimed 65 saloons, 18 lodging houses and hotels, three breweries, wholesale liquor dealers, more than a dozen markets, restaurants, two banks, barbershops, newspapers, a school, a post office and a telegraph office.
You might have enjoyed an ice cream on a warm day, or oysters packed in ice and shipped from San Francisco. During the boom years the camp struggled along without a church, though regular services were held in the Miner's Union Hall and then, after 1878, in the Odd Fellows Hall.
On the north end of town a rougher element of society frequently saloons and Faro tables. They drank Bodie Lightning, better known as whiskey, and visited the "Red Light District" and the opium dens. Gunshots rang through the streets. Gambling, drunkenness and violence plagued law abiding citizens.
Community minded residents gathered toward the south end of town for more respectable activities. On the Fourth of July families attended the annual street parade accompanied by the band and watched children participate in games while men competed in hard rock "drilling" contests. Wrestling competitions were frequent among the men.
Couples enjoyed fancy dress balls at the Miner's Union Hall, which doubled as a social center. Children's recitals, concerts, along with other events kept the "proper" women of the town occupied planning festivities. Booker Flat, south of town, featured a horse racing track and nearby was the baseball field where the "Bodie Mutts" played ball.

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Bodie
The Red Cloud Mine
James Stuart Cain
Bodey's Grave
Bodie and Benton R. R.
Aurora
Dog Town
Little Bodie
Poor Farm

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