Bodie ghost town 8/98
Est of California,not far from Bishop and around 7800 ft elevation, is Bodie, a ghost town since 1942. Some gold was discovered around 1859. The city grew, and had more than 10 000 inhabitants around 1880. It was very difficult to live in Bodie. Lost, in the middle of nowhere, very hot in summer and freezing in winter. Many adventurers were attracted there. Gambling, prostitution, murders were very common. But beside violence and despair, this town was also the first in many things, like for instance, the first electric line to bring electricity from the dam located many miles away. An interesting story : They had great difficulty to put the poles in a straight line from the dam, as scientists thought, at that time, that electricity couldn't make turns.
A the end of the dust road we discovered Bodie, the "red hill mining town": this is exactly where U2 filmed the video of that song. Bodie was finally abandonned after an huge fire was started by a boy, in 1932. |
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| Notice the electric poles | ||||
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| It's the only thing which remains from the bank |
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| Hollis & Weaton hotel | A room of this hotel | Detail of a foot of the pool table |
A grocery | A fire station |
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| The mine is in the background |
The gaz station | The gymnasium | The gymnasium and beside, an hotel |
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| Main street | The owner of this house was a gold digger |
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Boot Hill: one burial per day : people would be buried with their boots. The prostitutes only had the right to be buried without a tomb stone. |
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| Are these cow-boy ghosts? |
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