Mono County, California

[monobbs]

Calif. mining town a researcher's dream

Wednesday, October 26, 2005

HOLLAND - Michael H. Piatt has a gold prospector's itch for historical research, especially when it comes to the living ghost town of Bodie, Calif., where gold mines once fueled a rough-and-tumble Wild West boomtown.

In the late 1800s, Bodie grew to a town of nearly 8,000 in Mono County of eastern California, with its own daily newspaper and where work was plentiful if dangerous - blasting ore out of the ground and extracting its value in steam-powered mills.

So when Piatt - a civil engineer by trade who once worked at the state historic park created at Bodie - published a detailed history of the town in 2003, it was a crowning achievement for him. But the debut of "Bodie: 'The Mines are Looking Well'" did not quell his itch to publish more.

The result is the recent launch of www.bodiehistory.com. The newest Web site designed by datzmedia of Brimfield was conceived as a way to get previously unpublished essays about the workings of Bodie into a readily available form. Everyone may not share the level of fascination that Piatt has maintained since first visiting Bodie in 1968. But New Englanders may access a window into an industrial past unlike that for which their own mill towns are famous.

"What struck me as I worked on the site is the intensity of the long-distance love affair Michael has for Bodie," said Bob Datz, proprietor of datzmedia. "His willingness to share copyrighted scholarship prior to publication reflects the passion he feels from afar."

Piatt's hands-on interests have also included blacksmithing, which he studied on his own before working in the trade several years ago at Old Sturbridge Village.

The book itself includes a wider-ranging look at Bodie life before the boom finally declined in the early 1900s. The 288-page volume, including color photography, is published by North Bay Books. Links to order "Bodie: 'The Mines are Looking Well'" are easily accessible at the Bodie history Web site.



The Republican, Springfield, Massachusets
Wednesday, October 26, 2005

http://www.masslive.com/metroeastplus/republican/index.ssf?/base/news-0/1130256637149390.xml&coll=1
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Posted by Denise S. Flynn, Coordinator for Mono County GenWeb