Another popular image of mine hanging at The Main Gallery is this one taken in Bodie California, a ghost town National Park Service protected area north of Yosemite National Park. This genuine California gold-mining ghost town was established in 1859 by Waterman S. Body, a prospector who discovered small amounts of gold in the hills north of Mono Lake. By 1875, people were flocking to the area when a mine cave-in revealed that this area is rich in gold. Five years later, this tiny community had ballooned to an estimated population of 10,000 supporting the work of the goldminers. It is said that there were 65 saloons!

Now it is a town in “arrested decay”. The shops and offices and homes remain as they were left and stocked with goods. Visitors can walk the streets and enter a few of the 110 remaining buildings, the howling wind escorting them.