Sunshine Station, Nevada

A few feet inside of the Nevada border, on Bodie Road, sits the ruins of a stone building. Bodie Creek runs nearby, leaving the lower elevations marshy. The walls are overgrown with wild pink roses, leaving only the four corners of the rock structure exposed.   

Why are the ruins in a canyon notorious for flash floods and washouts and so far from Bodie and Aurora? 

Bodie Aurora Toll Road

During early mining booms, roads were difficult and time-consuming to construct. The Nevada Territory did not have the resources available to build and maintain the infrastructure. Between 1861 and 1864, Nevada awarded toll road franchises to individuals or groups who bid to construct roads. In return for their investment and continued maintenance, travelers compensated the owners with tolls.  

In 1862, nine miners were awarded a franchise to develop a toll road connecting Bodie to Aurora and eventually to Carson City. The road wound through the narrow Bodie Gulch, where in places, sheer rock walls soar to the sky, allowing in only a sliver of sunlight.   

Between the 1880s and 1890s, Hank Blanchard owned and operated the toll road. Blanchard had two stage stops, Blanchard’s and Sunshine Station. Blanchard’s Station was midway between Bodie and the state line and Sunshine Station was halfway between Bodie and Aurora, earning it the alternate name Half Way House.  

Fees for Blanchard’s portion of the road were collected at Sunshine Station. Two to three stages ran daily in each direction.  

Despite close ties and heavy traffic between Bodie and San Fransisco, travel was difficult between the cities. The fastest route headed westward from Bodie, was a stagecoach to Aurora, then another stage to Carson City, boarding the Virginia & Truckee Railroad to Reno and then connecting to the Central Pacific Railway to San Francisco. A traveler could count on a several-day trip, with meals and accommodations ranging from opulent to horrid.  

“Road Agents”

Stagecoach robberies were common in Bodie Canyon. Sharp curves, narrow passages, steep cliffs and isolation were ideal for a ne’er-do-well looking to enhance his income. It is said that robberies occurred so often that horse teams would halt themselves in the canyon to await arriving highwaymen.

Stories differ on how stagecoach robbers behaved. Some robbers were polite to passengers, neither touching them nor their belongings, as selling stolen property in the sparsely populated West was risky and rewards were frequently posted. No one wanted his likeness on a wanted poster.  

During other hold-ups, once the cash box was relieved, robbers demanded at gunpoint that passengers place all their valuables in the bandit’s hat. After freeing the passengers from their possessions, the highwaymen made a fast, clean getaway, ensuing in the finest Western cinematic form.  

Both versions of the bandits are probably true. The Hollywood movie Desperado and the Victorian gentleman thief likely coexisted; one agreeable highwayman posed for a photograph during a robbery, taking a 1880s-style selfie with his victims! 

Visited 9-11-2020

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References

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References

• Cain, Ella M. The Story of Bodie. Fearon Publishers, 1956. Pages 157-168.
• Forgotten Nevada: Sunshine Station
• McGrath, Roger D. Gunfighters, Highway Men and Vigilantes: Violence on the Frontier. University of California Press, 1894. Pages 71, 85.
• Paher, Stanley. Nevada Ghost Towns and Mining Camps. Nevada Publications, 1970. Page 471.
• The Second Promise: STAGECOACH ROBBERY — “Halt! Your money or your life!”
• Silver, Sue. Volume 3: Mineral County, Nevada: Volume, Early Transportation, Stagecoach, Steamboat and Narrow Gauge Rail. Museum Associates of Mineral County, 2011. Pages 166, 167 168, 171, 174, 177, 178.
• Silver, Sue. Mineral County, Nevada: Volume 5, Roads and Routes of the Past. Museum Associates of Mineral County, 2012. Pages 62, 86.
• Stewart, Robert E. Aurora: Nevada’s Ghost City of the Dawn. Nevada Publications, 2004. Pages 67-70.

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