Bodie Catholic Church
Bodie Catholic Church was built by Rev. Father Cassin- was still standing in 1904- when he returned to marry two sisters.
June 3, 1904
PREIST TO GO ON PLEASANT MISSION
THE REV. FATHER CASSIN WILL OFFICIATE AT WEDDING IN BODIE
Will Visit His First Parish in the Mountains after the Lapse of Twenty Years and More
In the course of a few days the Rev. J. M. Cassin, of St Rose’s Catholic Church, will pay a visit to Bodie, Mono county, California. This will revive “the memory of the early days oh his ministry.”
It was his first experience in “Church Building.” The journey is a long one. It necessitates, “a twenty-four hour ride by train on the Southern Pacific, and the Virginia Truckee, Carson & Colorado Railroads.” Then, a whole night must be passed in the stage-coach.
Bodie is situated at an altitude of nearly 9,000 feet. The climate is severe and sometimes the snow falls ten months out of the year.
When Father Cassin went there in 1878 Bodie was wild and lawless Mining Camp. Murders were frequent occurrence. Pneumonia was prevalent and fatal accidents in the Mines caused many of deaths.
On one occasion, Father Cassin recalled Thursday, two miners went into a magazine containing two tons of giant powder.
In some manner, they caused an Explosion. When the smoke had cleared away, not the single trace of the miners was ever found. Father Cassin has a photograph of these two men, taken before the Explosion, of course. the Explosion caused some other deaths and much damage in the neighborhood.
While Priest at Bodie, Father Cassin had to parochially visit all the surrounding country for hundreds of miles and often spent a night in the Stage, when the “thermometer marked many degrees below zero.”
He built a Catholic Church in Bodie under great difficulties. He had to “collect Subscriptions from the Miners,” sometimes more than thousand feet under ground.
He recalls, some of the difficulties he had to contend with getting the Church built. He signed a contract with “a builder to erect a church.”
A few days after, the Builder shot a man, and was put in jail. Later, he was released, “on the plea of self defense,” and carried out his Contract of erecting the Church.
The doors and windows had to be ordered from a long distance. Before they reached Bodie, the doors and windows were destroyed in a Railroad accident, necessitating a long delay. The various articles of “Church furniture” were ordered from New York. A strike on the Railroads, caused them to be delayed for months on the way. The work of building the church was long and difficult. But the Bodie Catholic Church, has stood the storms of more than twenty year long Winters.
Father Cassin will in a few days renew old memories, “by officiating in it once again.” He has been invited to preform the Marriage ceremony for two young ladies whose parents he also married.
Father Cassin will take with him the gold watch he received fro Bodie two decades ago on which is inscribed, “To the Rev. J. M. Cassin as token of esteem from some friends, Bodie, Cal, Nov 8, 1883.”
After some years the high altitude and severe climate caused a throat and lung trouble which necessitated Father Cassin departure to a milder climate. But he pleased to visit again the scene of his former labors and hardships.
On his way to Bodie he will pay a visit to Virgina City, which he often visited from Bodie and where some of his Bodie friends now reside. He once descended into the Bonanza Mines to the depth of 2,400 feet.
Father Cassin will arrive in Bodie on June 8 and will return to Santa Rosa on June 18. During his absence the Rev. Father M.P. Golden will attend the parish at St. Rose Catholic Church.
Press Democrat, Number 130. 3 June 1904