Mining - Bodie, California

Hard to just pick up an ingot this size and wander off with it. That's, of course, the point! ;) Bodie, California, USA.

This was part of another guided tour. A railroad that had been built to a stand of pine down in the Mono basin ended here, at the ridge crest above town on the east. It was used to haul timber both for building and for firewood. Wood also fired the locomotive! IIRC the railroad didn't connect to any through line. It was merely for supplying timber. The tracks have long since been removed, probably a hundred years ago now.

Bodie, California, USA. Still with wallpaper!

A 1930s era vat made of steel. It is located on the ridge east of the main part of Bodie. There was an attempt to revive Bodie in the early 1930s that foundered due to a fire, because after the fire they couldn't raise additional capital due to the Depression. This historical accident is probably why Bodie is preserved today. Btw, the cyaniding reaction requires oxygen, and hence exposure to the air. That's why the reaction vessels are "vats," implying a relatively shallow container with lots of surface area. It was discovered early on that nothing happened if you just put the cyanide solution and ore together in a tank in the absence of air.

From atop the ridge east of Bodie.

Bodie State Historic Park. Just one of the photogenic old buildings, maintained by the California State Parks department in a state of "arrested decay."