Bodie Window is a photograph by Wes Jimerson which was uploaded on January 28th, 2015.
Title
Bodie Window
Artist
Wes Jimerson
Medium
Photograph - Photography
Description
Bodie:
The 1849 discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill in the western Sierra foothills lured men and women to California from across the United States and indeed the world. Prospectors equipped with picks, shovels, and the ubiquitous gold pans searched for placer deposits-loose flakes and nuggets that have eroded and washed into streams.
A decade after the gold rush began at Sutter's Mill, four prospectors made a rich strike on the opposite side of the Sierras-that is, in the eastern foothills. They agreed to keep the discovery secret until the following spring, but one, W.S. Bodey, returned with another man, a half-Cherokee named "Black" Taylor. Having traveled to Monoville for supplies, the pair were returning to their cabin when they were caught in a blizzard and Bodey perished.
Named for its discoverer, camp Bodey was soon rechristened "Bodie" when (according to local lore) a sign painter misspelled the word and the new version was preferred. At first Bodie was largely neglected due to other strikes in the area. Mark Twain was among the gold seekers who rushed to nearby Aurora, Nevada, for instance.
However, Bodie eventually boomed. In 1876, a freak mine cave-in exposed a valuable body of gold, and the Standard Consolidated Mining Company responded with a large investment in equipment and lumber. Another rich strike followed in 1878 in the Bodie Mine, which, in just six weeks, shipped gold bullion worth a million dollars. Meanwhile, Bodie grew rapidly, with boarding houses, restaurants, saloons, and other enterprises springing up.
Besides the business and professional men, mine-operators, miners, etc., there were hundreds of saloon-keepers, hundreds of gamblers, hundreds of prostitutes, and an unusual number of what we used to call "Bad men"-desperate, violent characters from everywhere, who lived by gambling, gun-fighting, stage robbing, and other questionable means. The "Bad man from Bodie" was a current phrase of the time throughout the west. In its day, Bodie was more widely known for its lawlessness than for its riches.
Given Bodie's reputation, it is perhaps not surprising that one little girl, whose family was moving to the mining town, reportedly prayed: "Goodbye God! We are going to Bodie".
Uploaded
January 28th, 2015
