Copyright ã International
Bond & Share Society 2001
A few fortunate collectors own share
certificates or bonds of companies mining gold at Bodie, in the high country
east of the Sierra Nevada, on the California/Nevada state line. Unusually, much
of the old town is still there, and is one of the very few ghost towns which
merit the description. Most ghost towns listed in the guidebooks hardly exist –
a few remains of a mine headworks, a few foundations, and little more – often
not even that much. Some, such as Madrid, near Santa Fe NM, where coalmining
stopped only some 30 years ago, were never totally deserted, and have now been
partly reoccupied, for low-level tourism and artists/craftsmen. A few, such as
Calico, off the L.A.-Vegas I-15, have been turned into blatant tourist resorts,
with shoot-outs, train-rides, gift-shops, and burlesque shows in the saloon.
Bodie is not like that. It is high, cold, remote, often inaccessible in the
winter snows, and with no shoot-outs or burlesque. The only residents today are
a few California State Park Service staff.
It has a long mining history, but the real boom
lasted only 3 years or so – 1879-81. Known certificates date mostly from the
boom-time, but much the best-known is from the early days, and a very few (not
only mining) from later dates.
The Beginnings
1859 saw the discovery of placer gold in the
bleak hills north of Mono Lake, and brought a minor goldrush to the area. Two
prospectors, Wakeman (or Waterman or William) Bodey and Terrance Brodigan,
found gold in that same year, on the hill above where the town of Bodie was
built late ; Bodey died in a November snowstorm, and his name, somehow
mis-spelled as Bodie, was given to the tiny settlement. It was a poor site ;
the limited placer gold was hard to work, on account of a lack of water, and
the deep-rock deposits found were of low grade. In January 1863 numerous claims
were amalgamated into the Bodie Bluff Consolidation Mining Co. The certificates
of this company are the best-known Bodie paper. Partly on account of the
design, and partly for the signature of Leland Stanford, as president. Stanford
was governor of California, and a founder of the Central Pacific RR, among many
other interests. The company was an immediate and total failure (possibly
explaining why most of the certificates seen are unissued). Later in 1863 the
Bodie Bluff claims, with others, came together to form the Empire Gold &
Silver Mining Co. of New York (inc. 1864). This too failed, in 1867; the company invested around
$400,000 in Bodie, but it had all gone, with little to show for it - the bonds
of 1864, known to collectors, have only one interest coupon cut.
The ‘Wilderness Years’, and Rebirth
By 1868 Bodie was close to abandoned ; only a
handful of miners remained, and until 1876, it stayed that way. However, in
that year, two men of the 1868 vintage decided to try again. They bought one of
the old Bodie Bluff claims, and sank a shaft 120 feet deep without finding
anything. One night there was a cave-in ; this revealed the rich ore-body
which was to make the Standard Mine famous. The owners sold out to a group of
San Francisco investors, who formed the Standard Mining Co., and started work
immediately. The company soon started to pay large dividends, and the word
spread quickly. Prospectors, miners, businessmen, saloonkeepers and madams
poured in, and Bodie grew rapidly. Many other companies were formed, and stock
prices soared. There were 30 companies working mines at the peak, and they were
producing bullion worth $400,000 per month. The Standard alone yielded nearly $15 million during its life.
1878/9/80
1878 saw a very rich strike at the Bodie Mine,
next to the Standard, and the shares rose from some cents to over $50 in just a
few weeks. Tiogo, Bechtel, Belvedere, Consolidated Pacific and the others were
all in demand, although had not yet justified the claims by their promoters.
The rush to Bodie was redoubled, and by the end of 1878, it had at least 5,000
people. A year later it was 7,000. It began to be a town, with all sorts of
business (including 65 saloons and 3 breweries), several banks and newspapers,
theatre, and a busy social, cultural and sporting life. It is remembered today
as ‘the wildest mining camp in the West’, and this always makes a good story
for tourists. In truth, although it had its share of fights, and the occasional
murder (especially in the busy red-light Bonanza Street/Virgin Alley district),
for the most part it was a fairly orderly place, not really resembling a
priest’s description in 1881 as ‘a sea of sin, lashed by the tempests of lust
and passion’.
No less than 7 quartz mills, with 125 stamps,
were in use by now. Production and crushing of rich ore in 1880 exceeded the
1879 figure, and expectations were for a further rise in 1881 and beyond.
However, the construction boom had tailed off, and unemployed workers had left
the town to search for work elsewhere.
Rail Links
By early 1880 a railroad link, from the
Virginia & Truckee, was projected, but not pursued. 1881 brought a working
railroad, owned by the Bodie Railroad & Lumber Co., but only a narrow-gauge
line, to bring timber in from south of Mono Lake. There was a proposal for a
railroad to Bodie from the San Joaquin valley, over the Sierras ; the
Modesto & Tuolumne & Mono RR Co. was incorporated, to build the
150-mile line. This idea, which came to nothing, was followed by another, the
California & Nevada RR Co., planning a line from Oakland to Stockton and
over the Sierras to Bodie ; a line was surveyed to the Sierra summit, but
that was all. A more solid rail link was being prepared ; the Bodie &
Benton RR & Commercial Co’s line to connect Bodie southwards to Benton, on
the Carson & Colorado line, was mostly graded, when it was stopped in
mid-1882. The trackbed was later used for the shorter Mono Lake Railway &
Lumber Co.
1881 – The Shadows lengthen
A major problem was arising now for all of Bodie’s shaft mines – the
water-table persisted at the 450-foot level, in spite of much pumping, and this
was preventing access to valuable ore. Many of the smaller companies failed to
find enough good ore near the surface, and were dependent on going deeper, but
they hit the water, and the stockholders were unwilling to invest more for
pumping operations, with no guarantees of finding rich ore. A number closed
down. The larger companies installed the most powerful Cornish pumps, and
worked on. 1881 production was a record ; profitable companies were the
Bodie, Standard Consolidated, Noonday, North Noonday, Syndicate Bechtel
Consolidated, Oro, Bodie Tunnel, and Concordia (the later ones earning only
trifling sums). Other companies recorded little or no production, and kept
going only by levying assessments (or ‘Irish dividends’) on their
long-suffering stockholders.
1882 – A Disastrous Year
1882 marked the beginning of the end. The winter was particularly
severe, and storms damaged many mines in the area. A much-heralded rich
ore-body turned out to be much less rich than expected. A bank closed, and more
mines ceased operations. People started to leave Bodie, many businesses closed
down, and the real estate market collapsed. As deep mines closed, pumping was reduced, and
the water-table climbed higher, causing problems in the remaining mines.
November saw a bank foreclosure on a major group of mines. By 1884 even the
Standard and Bodie mines had closed, and few mines remained. The later 1880s
saw Bodie shrink steadily.
The Later Years
The 1890s saw a temporary improvement, with the new cyanide process being used to work the tailings left from earlier mining. Electric power-lines and the telephone reached Bodie. The Standard mill, built in 1877, burned down in 1899, and was rebuilt as the mill still standing today, although it closed down about 1916. There have been attempts to restart mining at Bodie, notable by the great Homestake Co., but none has been successful. Sadly, in 1932, a very serious fire destroyed much of what remained of Bodie.
Today there are still many houses, with some shops and bars to be seen, mostly
much as they were left decades ago, with furniture, cooking utensils, books and
newspapers, and even coffins, still in place. The Standard mill can be visited,
but only on conducted tours, as it is dangerous. The scattered mines can still
be seen on the ‘bluff ‘ above the town (although the whole are is closed
to visitors as dangerous).
Thanks to Henry Hinck and Ken Prag for
information.
Copyright ã INTERNATIONAL BOND
& SHARE SOCIETY 2001
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