GHOST TOWNS AND CITIES OF GOLD

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Arriving in Bodie is rather eerie, even though we were not the first tourists we were still early enough for it to be quiet. Driving down the dirt road that leads to the deserted mining town you first pass the cemetry on your left and then you see what is left of the once sprawling town on the right. Perched high up on the hill is the mill and mine looming over the houses. We parked and set off with our map on foot following the numbered lots to find out the history behind each one. We started with an old family home, staring through the dusty windows we find that broken chairs, caved in celings, old bottles and crockery stare back at us. I love places like this and already find myself wishing I could see this place in its heyday. We pass the rangers home but thats many numbers ahead and we stick to the route our map gives us figuring we'll pass that later. I note he has a garden picketed fence unusual as none of the others do, must be a perk of the job! One of the houses has been opened to the public and we climb the rickety wooden stairs to take a look. We enter into what must be the sittingroom, the walls still have the old wallpaper, garish reddish patterns faded over time. A settee sits across one of the walls, torn and worn you just know that has seen some backsides over the years. At the far back of the room is the kitchen this is closed off by a gate but you can still look inside. The table has almost an inch of dust, crockery is set out like someone was exepected for dinner. The sink is large and deep, many a child washed in that we thought. The shelves also dusty hold a multitude of little bottles, opened cans and various bits of crockery. The aga has no door but once again you can see the lady of the house cooking for the family in here. Now was she a lady? I check the notes of the house, yes she was and she was married to a gentleman that was held in high regard in the town, he was a lawyer. Every gold merchant would need one of those at some point and he would have been paid handsomely for his advice. We leave the house and back onto the deserted dusty streets following the trail we head down Green Street and find ourselves looking through the windows of the once local store. Ointments, flour, grain, drinks, old fashioned trinkets the place is an aladins cave and we both long to investigate inside. However, you can only stare through the dusty, dirty window. Next door to the store is canisters of gasoline that would have been shipped in here for when the winter cut all access off to the town and surrounding area. Looking up the street you can see a number of other buildings and as we set off towards them we read about the houses and their owners. More interesting though is to look though the windows. One place has a bottle of old beer sat on a table, the label is faded but the bevergae untouched. The shelves behind have tins of corned beef. In one bedroom sits a solitary doll and a bottle of calomine lotion so old it has no colour and all the ingredients have seperated. Only the label tells you what it is. A grubby old doll sits in the bedroom of another house on springs of a very worn mattress. The curtains fell down years ago and the doll has long since seen the hug and affection it may once have had. We look across the road and see the fire station, ignoring our number system we go take a look. Old fire carts, hoses and various other bits sit inside what can only be decribed as a falling down shed, however its stubborn structure refuses to give way and crumble. Tim is particularly interested in finding the local bar we can see on the map and we head off in that direction. We look through the window and to our absolute astonishment we see that the betting chips are still sat on the routlette table covered in dust. Across the room we can see a small bar not quite the room long one that Tim had hoped for but we can also see old bottles of beer empty on the table. Its like everyone just left one day and never came back but we know from our information sheet that although many left in quick succession some stayed for many years after the decline of the town.

Bodie State Historic Park is a genuine California gold-mining ghost town. We are walking through the deserted streets of a town that once had a population of 10,000 people. Founded by Waterman S. Body (William Bodey), who had discovered small amounts of gold in hills north of Mono Lake. Unfortunately for William Bodey he never got to see the fruits of his discovery as he was killed only a year later by a blizzard. However, his discovery lead in 1877 to a gold rush which transformed Bodie from a town of 20 people to a boomtown. The gold discovery would later become known across this area as the Comstock Lode. Only a small part survives, preserved in a state of "arrested decay." Interiors remain as they were left. Today this once thriving mining camp is visited by tourists, howling winds and an occasional ghost. The life of the miners was tough and after a long day in the mines there were three things on their mind. Drink, Gambling and women, for the ladies of the night had a profound impact on the townsman. Their services keeping many lonely men comforted a long way from home and parting them from their well earned cash of course. Men came to get rich but many gambled and spent what they made sending far less home than should have been seen by their families. Native Amercian, Irish and Chinese seemed to be the main stay of the town. Each keeping segregated from the other. The Chinese has their own area actually listed on the map as china town but when we take a look it is just a dry grassy area with no buildings left standing. Bodies decline came after the gold dwindled and a major fire took hold tearing the towns buildings down at a rapid pace. All wooden there was little the towns people could do to save their houses. From the heat of summer to the depths of winter where the weather is often unpredictable. Sub-zero temperatures, strong winds and white-out conditions are not uncommon. Life here was harsh and the townsman had formiddable reputations, known simply as the bad men of Bodie. As our information sheet put it "The bells would chime with the years of the life lost, at one time Bodies bells seemed to chime all day, everyday" It seems that any argument or disagreement was settled with a pistol or a fist and one man would pay the highest price.

The museum was of particular interest as it seems some of the artefacts from the town are being well preserved here. The key rack from the hotel hangs on the wall, funeral carts, trinkets from China town including opium pipes. Pictures of the locals, personal items donated by remaining family members include wage slips, letters and so many fascinating items of history. One section to my amusement was from people returning things they ahd taken from the site. Obviously being a heritage site you cannot remove anything and there were a stream of letter from people returning nails, shoes, stones etc.. pleading that they were sorry. It seems that taking things from Bodie causes back luck and these people were seriously having bad luck. One woman wrote if I remember rightly that her husnband had lost his job, her father in law was in hospital dying from a medical problem the doctors could not solve, she too had suffered bad health and on it went. Poor woman, I told Tim all about it and made sure neither if us had anything we shouldnt have!!

I was spellbound by this place and could have stayed there all day looking in every window and dreaming of what it was once like. The fact is we had been here 3 hours and time was pressing once again. Plus Tim had taken to saying "theres gold in them there hills" way too often!!!! It was a truly unique experience though and we left shortly after taking a quick look around the cemetary. At this point we were still planning to head for Lake Tauho but realised that over a weekend (we keep forgetting what the day is) it may be too expensive so instead we went to Reno which is supposedly a mini Las Vegas. The drive took a couple of hours passing through Carson City as we drove. We managed to find a cheap hotel and decided to stay for a couple of days. It is nowhere near as good as Vegas but it does have alot of casinos. We took a wonder around some of them but suddenly it dawned on us that really two nights had been a silly idea as neither of us gamble and there is nothing else to do here. So we spent the next day sorting out washing and planning the next few days properly. No internet in sight so we were not getting anything done on the blog but we just kicked back watched telly and wondered aimlessly about. The area was quite dodgy with many strange looking characters so we didnt do much at night. The best thing.......with casinos you are guaranteed a well priced, stocked buffet dinner so we did take advantage of that!

From Reno we decided to go to Virginia City. We had enjoyed Bodie so much that although Virginia was by no means desterted it did still have all of the gold mining history, stories and original housing to take a look at. We set out first thing and found ourselves arriving into this quaint little town well in time for an early breakfast. Taking a brief look around us we managed to find a restaurant open and the lady that welcomed us in traditional early 1900's dress. After quaffing bacon, eggs, sausage and lots of tea and toast we were set to explore and went off in search of the train tour. It was too early with not enough people wanting to go so we went to the museum to kill some time. This was very interesting with a small working mine model, old papers, dolls in traditional dress which I studies for some time and finally a film of the history. Virginia was also part of the Comstock Lode mining, the name comes from a local guy laying claim to the land in which it was found, apparently as it turned out it wasnt his land but he was made very rich just for the statement. Couldnt see that happening today! Over the years of mining over $400,000,000 in silver and gold were taken from the surrounding hills. Virginia was considered the most important settlement between Denver and San Fransisco and it was said that once a mans money had been made it was San Fransisco where most intended to spend it.

The museum was great and from here we went off onthe 20 minute trolley tour. The stories were very much like bodies only the homes were still being lived in and the bars still open. We passed the red light district of the town and were told that one woman inparticular captured the hearts of the local men and poor families. Although the gentry women despised here mear existence when she was murdered for her jewels and money the townman demanded that she be laid to rest in the gentries cemetary. The ladies won out though and in the end she was buried on her very own plot overlooking the town, history tells that the funeral entourage was in the 1000's. The stories are still fascinating although they are just different people living very similar lives to those in Bodie. Tim was keen to do a mine tour and we paid to take a short tour in one of the mines open to the public. Once again it was both enlightening and interesting. I for one did not realise that back in the day that they were mining they could not use gas lights beacuse of the lack of air so they would work by candlelight. Using hefty hammers and chisels in literally darkeness no wonder it was a hard life. The mines are also way smaller than I expected and the one we were in had been widened for public access. As it turned out the mine was also a dead weight round its owners neck and lost the two men that opened it alot of money when it turned out there was no gold or silver to be found. The had pitched right in between two mines that were doing very well and had not struck much in the way of real money. One other guy sold off his mine when he found it was only silver and not gold. He sold it for $70,000, it mined over $1m - how sick would you be???? After this we went in search of the bar not to drink but just to see the bars like in the old westerns when they would slide the whiskey the full length and the cowbuys would catch it. Virginia has a fair few and Tim was please to have seen one. We then found the famous suicide table, which I believe was roulette. The story goes that the two men that owned the table both committed suicide when on seperate occasions they were taken for 1000's of dollars they could not afford to cover. That was pretty unusual! Finally we finished off with the redlight museum which I will leave to you imagination but it was by no means Amsterdam! Shops, museums, saloons, casinos, history and a whole lot of tales Virginia was also well worth the visit.

So with our gold mining discoveries over we planned to finally make it to Lake Tauho. So we hit the road again with the roof down the music up and more scenery to enjoy.....................

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