"The silent streets and uninhabited buildings that greet today's visitors to Bodie, California's quintessential ghost town, belie the town's colorful past and the full and varied lives of its former residents. In Bodie's Gold, author Marguerite Sprague uses a wide range of historic documents and recent interviews with surviving Bodieites to bring this former boomtown back to life." "Sprague's account covers all the details of Bodie life - the mines and the working conditions of the miners; the demimonde of saloons and brothels; the schools, churches, and other institutions of settled life; the lives of its residents, including the native Kuzedika Indians and the Chinese; the role of women in the economy and in local society; and the experiences of the children. The boom ended in 1880, and the town began its long, slow decline, surviving into the twentieth century as a small town supported by a few small but steady mines. Mining ended with World War II, and the last permanent residents moved away. What remained of the town was named a California state park in 1964"--Jacket.