2019 other side - part 23, back road drive: a lumber mill, wild horses, and a stone corral - Travel With Us

After we left Mono Lake, we drove east along SR-120 so we could explore some back country roads, not knowing what we’d find but hoping we’d see some wild horses that our camp host had said was possible. We drove through a beautiful forest and “happened” upon Mono Mills, a lumber mill from the 1880s that ties in with Bodie, a mining town that we’ll see next.

Here’s the skinny on the mills. To meet the demand for lumber and cord wood, a railway and lumber company was formed in February 1881. Timber was milled here and then shipped to Bodie, a distance of 32 miles.

The sawmill was a 2-story structure that could produce 80,000 board feet
in a 10-hour shift (when crew was sober) and was powered by a 16-inch steam engine. When another area produced electricity for Bodie and lumber wasn’t needed, the demand dropped off, and Mono Mills was abandoned in 1917. Now let’s see more details!

This site had a sawmill, a railroad, and a community of workers to supply Bodie wood for construction, heating, and steam-power for the mines.

Bodie’s success and downturn affected Mono Mills

A 32-mile narrow gauge railway connected Bodie with this forest site;
4 steam engines were brought in for this operation. The engines were delivered to Hawthorne, Nevada, about 33 miles away, where they
were disassembled and then hauled by mule-driven wagons to
Mono Mills. Can’t believe how those mules could pull such heavy
loads over this rough terrain.

The top floor of the mill was level with the top of the ravine so logs brought in from the forest could easily be rolled into the mill. The slope of the ravine allowed the lumber to slide down skids to the railroad tracks.

views of the slopes

An “Armstrong” turntable, named because it took strong arms to
turn the engine on the table, was north (left) of the sawmill. After
engines returned from Bodie, they were turned around so they would
be ready for the next trip. Remember we saw another turntable like
this at the Laws train depot area?

the turntable on its side showing its wheels and underside;
the crew was installing a new turntable in 1909

the next 2 pictures will explain the letters on this picture

A – C
80,000 board feet a day; long days for low pay

at least 4 saws could cut tree trunks into planks;
1 circular saw measured 54 inches in diameter

This lumber community harvested the forest and transported wood
to Bodie. It quickly made wooden ties for railroad construction so
the railway could link the timberland to Bodie.

boarding house; the bell on top of the roof announced meal times

Mono Mills had 2 boarding houses and 30 small houses by the end of
1882; residents had various jobs. Both Chinese and Kutzadika Indians supported the lumber operation. At its height, over 200 people were involved in the lumber operation.

in front of the Mono Mills store and by a
locomotive tender (held wood for the train’s boiler)

engine at Mono Mills decorated for 4th of July

logging challenges

Challenges:
1. time and energy using cross-cut saws and then moving
these giant logs through the soft pumice sands
2. teams of 10 oxen or 16 mules pulled huge Jeffrey pines
on solid-wheeled trucks
3. “Michigan Wheels” also used to drag logs from
forest to rail loading area

forest

difference between plank wood and fuel wood

Bodie’s need for wood

In 2 years, Bodie’s population increased to more than 10,000.
They quickly cut down what wood was around the town but
so much more wood was needed.

Bodie’s buildings were made of wood planks, but so much more was needed for the mining, cooking, and heating. A group of men from
Bodie took possession of 12,000 acres of prime timber land south of
Mono Lake in the midst of the largest pure stand of Jeffrey pines in
the world. This group formed Bodie Railway and Lumber Company
in 1881 and got to work.

Jeffrey Pine forest that can grown in this desert region

Bodie newspaper detailing the need for lumber

While the lumber mill probably cleaned out trees in the forest around the mill for Bodie’s need of lumber, these trees have grown back since then
to create a wonderful forest.

back country drive

Remember how we said that the Mammoth area was where the desert met the forest? Here’s a great example of that as we drove out of the forest by Mono Mills.

We drove into this valley and saw this
beautiful view of the White Mountains

Our camp host at McGee RV Park told us that Adobe Valley is
an area where wild horses roam, and we went looking for them!

But this is the best we could do, even though
we saw “leavings” of the wild horses at our next stop.

historic stone corral

As we drove out on a dirt road looking for the wild horses, we happened upon this wood and stone corral and saw a few notes about it in one of our brochures. Adobe Valley cattle helped feed Bodie and Benton miners in the 1880s. The valley was named by 1860s stockmen for the clay soil used to make bricks for the valley’s first dwellings.