~~~BODIE MINERS’ UNION~~- Bodie, (Mono County) California.

Bodie, California on a 1877 map was the BODIE MINING DISTRICT. The BODIE MINERS’ UNION established Bodie “map location” as a mining town.

The BODIE CEMETERY is the legacy of the membership of the BODIE MINERS’ UNION.

The physical danger and risk, and possibility of death to an individual miner was “the cause for organizing” the individual laborers into a “collective union of miners.” The BODIE MINERS’ UNION was organized on December 22, 1877 by the Miners working for the various Stamp Mills.

~~Who was going to bury them?- was the Question. The men working in the Mines were a “Brotherhood” and did not want to be buried “indigent” in unmarked graves.

Beside collective bargaining for a “guaranteed $4.00 daily wage and 8 hour Day,” the 1877 BODIE MINERS’ UNION CONSTITUTION and By-Laws, included a Membership “DEATH BENEFITS CLAUSE.” This was a “financial allotment” to pay for Funeral and burial expenses with purchase of a Grave-plot and a stone marker.

The BODIE MINERS’ UNION “Brotherhood of workers” established Bodie as a “Union Mining Town.”

The Mines and Stamp Mills, in the Bodie Mining District were owned by “outsiders,” investors, or Corporations. The miner workers daily-wages were being paid from “speculation or ASSESSMENT Money” from the stockholders, not the “ore they were taking out of the ground.”

By 1878, with “Membership Dues money,” the miners constructed a MEETING HALL for the purpose of having a Gathering Hall big enough to hold all the Union-members for official business meetings. Its purpose extended beyond the Miners to include the town-community, the local ranchers.

The BODIE MINERS UNION MEETING HALL on Main Street became the center of town-life for everyone in the Bodie Mining District.

With its spring dance floor- it was the community Dance Hall for the town-folk. For the Music Concerts it was turned into the the towns Social Hall.

For grieving families and friends gathered together for a funeral, it was the “Place of Worship.”

Bodie, California- WRITTEN IN STONE