Amazing video project featuring a young  Cody LaPlante who secured special permission from California State Parks officials to film inside a real deal California gold-mining ghost town.
After a mine cave-in revealed a rich vein of ore Bodie, California became a thriving town during the years of the California gold rush. It quickly exploded in size and at its pinnacle was home to around had around 2,000 structures and a population of 8,000 people. It went bust in 1881 and what buildings remain standing represents about 10% of its original structures.
Bodie State Historic Park is open year round but due to its high elevation (8375 feet), it is usually snowbound during winter and only accessible by skis, snowshoes or snowmobiles.
“After tracking snow patterns, LaPlante saw how covered Ghost Town in Bodie was and decided to travel the 13 miles via snowmobile into the abandoned Ghost Town. Assisted by a safety and State Parks team, LaPlante and the crew built a dream ski-park within the eerie buildings.”
About Bodie State Historic Park:
Bodie State Historic Park is a genuine California gold-mining ghost town. Visitors can walk down the deserted streets of a town that once had around 2,000 structures and a population of roughly 8,000 people.
The town is named for W.S. Body (or Bodey), who had discovered small amounts of gold in hills north of Mono Lake. In 1875, a mine cave-in revealed a rich vein of ore, which led to purchase of the mine by the Standard Company in 1877. People flocked to Bodie and transformed it from a town of a few dozen to a boomtown. In 1881, Bodie’s “bust” began and the town’s population declined drastically. The town’s population continuing to decline until only a few remained. Mining officially ceased in Bodie in 1942, the final nail in the coffin for Bodie’s township. Two large fires in 1892 and 1932 reduced the town’s remaining structures down to less than 10% of the 2,000 structures that once stood.
Only a small part of the town survives. Interiors remain as they were left and stocked with goods. Designated as a National Historic Site and a State Historic Park in 1962, the remains of Bodie are being preserved in a state of “arrested decay.” Today this once thriving mining camp is visited by tourists who continue to travel to Bodie from all over the world, just as they did back in Bodie’s boom years.
