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Bodie, California Railroad Construction Archive incl. Chinese Labor [144755]

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Paper Start Price:200.00 USD Estimated At:400.00 - 800.00 USD
Bodie, California Railroad Construction Archive incl. Chinese Labor  [144755]
SOLD
400.00USD+ (100.00) buyer's premium + applicable fees & taxes.
This item SOLD at 2022 Apr 22 @ 14:47UTC-7 : PDT/MST
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Lot of 3. The Bodie Railway & Lumber Company was formed in February 1881. The line ran 32 miles from Bodie to Mono Mills south of Mono Lake. An extension to Benton was proposed and the name was changed to the Bodie & Benton Railway, but this extension was never built. Eventually the line was abandoned and pulled up during WWI. It was Bodie's only railroad.

1) Historic Virginia & Truckee Railroad general Ticket Office form, May 26, 1881, for tickets to transport "Chinamen" from Carson to Bodie on the account of C. Gillchrist. Charles Gilchrist was a lumber man in Washoe County before heading to Bodie. Gilchrist, Sharp & Co. operated the company store at Mono Lumber Mills that were located on the south shore of Mono Lake and were the terminus (and purpose) of the Bodie Railroad. Their store served the 200 men employed at the mill. They also had mule and ox teams packing wood.

Work on the Bodie railroad started on May 25, 1881, the day before this order was issued! This form clearly represents Gilchrist pulling in more labor to help with the railroad's construction. The Chinese built the line, much to the ire of the white men in Bodie, whose mob protests and threats of violence forced the railroad to evacuate the Chinese workers on the steamer Rocket to one of the volcanic islands on Mono Lake in June 1881 for their safety.

2) Pacific Rolling Mill Co. billhead, San Francisco, 1882 to the Bodie Railway & Lumber Co. for 47 boxes of railroad spikes. Marked C& CRR, Reno (probably to be transferred over the Carson & Colorado Railroad).

3) Bodie & Benton Railway & Commercial Co. bond. No. 37, issued in 1886 for $1,000. Signed by H. Yerington as president, who also served as president for the Virginia & Truckee Railroad. Railroad and lumber vignette, Britton & Rey. Punch cancelled. Folds, clean. City:Bodie State:California Date:1881-1886