Gold was discovered in Bodie, California in 1858. During its heyday in the 1880s, the town had a population of about 10,000, but as the gold played out, most residents left. By the late 1930s, Bodie had been completely abandoned, and it stood empty and neglected until it was acquired as a historical site by the state of California in 1962. Since then, It has been maintained in a state of “arrested decay,” which means that the buildings are repaired as necessary to keep them from being completely destroyed by the raging elements of the High Sierra. Today only 170 structures remain, about 20 percent of the number that stood in the 1880s.
