While Bodie is known for gold mining, Hank Blanchard’s Mono mine and kiln provided lime for the town’s construction and milling of the gold. While not as flashy as the glitter of gold, Bodie couldn’t have grown to be the famous ghost town without the lime. The Bodie & Benton Railroad station at Lime Kiln served as an emergency shelter and communications when issues arose traveling between Bodie and Mono Mills.
The Lime Life
Buildings with rock, brick, or stone required mortar to cement the stones together. The mortar was made by baking travertine in lime kilns.
Hank Blanchard
Hank Blanchard built and operated the Mono Lime Kiln between 1880 and as late as 1900. Between the 1880s and 1890s, Hank Blanchard owned and operated the Bodie Aurora Toll Road.
Blanchard located his kiln a few feet north of a kiln used by Aurora in the 1860s. The kiln had a 30-ton capacity. Each firing took four to five days to burn and cool and required 22 cords of wood and 20 barrels of water.
Hawthorne, Nevada · Wednesday, February 20, 1880
Workers quarried travertine from the knoll and loaded it into the top of the kilns. They stacked wood in the bottom of the kiln and set it on fire, baking and drying the travertine. Once finished, they crushed the stone into a fine powder and mixed it with sand and water. Paiute Indians hauled the sacks of lime to the railroad siding and loaded it onto flat cars for shipment to Bodie. Contractors used the paste as mortar, stucco, or plaster for walls and ceilings at Bodie.
In 1894, cyanide processing was introduced to Bodie’s Mills. The Standard mill used lime from the Blanchard lime kiln to stabilize the pH, preventing the release of toxic cyanide gas.
Lime Kiln Station
(Photo courtesy of McDonnell sisters)
The Bodie and Benton Railway had a station at Lime Kiln, down a steep grade twelve miles from Bodie. Flat cars with lumber were transported from Mono Mills to a siding at Lime Kiln Station. Due to the steep grade into Bodie, an engine would haul three or four cars a trip up the grade.
Lime Kiln Station had a telephone in a small cabin connecting to Bodie and Mono Mills. During bad weather in the winter, the cabin provided shelter and communications to those stranded on the rail line.
For an unknown reason, one cold day after Mono Mills closed for the season, China Willie shot Lefty Jack, another Indian, with a .22 rifle. Emil Billeb, accompanied by Stuart Cain, Dr. Ware, and his assistant, traveled to Mono Mills to attend to the injured man.
(Photo credit: Owens Valley History)
As no engine was available, they took the company’s speedster, an Oldsmobile converted to drive on the rails. The car did great until the return trip when it died four miles east of Lime Kiln. Dr. Ware and his assistant made a cold middle-of-the-night hike back to Bodie. Billeb and Cain hiked to the cabin at Lime Kiln, started a fire in an oil can and waited through a chilly night until a new battery arrived the following morning.
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References
- Billeb, Emil W. Mining Camp Days: Bodie, Aurora, Bridgeport, Hawthorne, Tonopah, Lundy, Masonic, Benton, Thorne, Mono Mills, Mammoth, Sodaville, Goldfield. Howell North Books, 1968. Pages 45-48, 51-52, 57, 67, 70.
- Bodie: Bodie Railway
- Canton, Wanda and Richard. Bodie Railway and Lumber Company: Railroad in the sky 1881-1917. Friend of Bodie Railroad & Lumber Company. 2011. Pages 25, 26,
- Friends of Mono Lake Reserve
- Gold Hill Daily News, August 31, 1880
- Nevada State Journal, January 22, 1878
Gold Hill, Nevada · Tuesday, August 31, 1880
Greg says
I recall Bodie well. Thanks, Tami, for bringing back some good memories
Tami says
Bodie is fun, but there is so much outside of the park.
Jim Wetzel says
Thanks Tami,
I’ve been to Bodie a couple of times and had never heard of the lime kilns.
Jim
Tami says
Bodie is always a fun visit, but there is so much to explore beyond the park.
terry says
went to bodie a year or two ago and didn’t see the kilns, where abouts are they? i don’t know if you research a town before you go but you seem to find things that i missed.
Tami says
It isn’t in the park but by Mono Lake. My next project is historical sites and ghost towns around Bodie but not in the park.
I try to research before going places, but I miss things, too. I missed a photo I wanted at an old ranch at Mono Lake, thankfully it isn’t too far off the road.