Bodie was a “Union town”

Bodie was a “Union Town”- not a “company owned mining town.”

Bodie was a “Miners’ Union town.” It was not a “Company-owned town.” It was not a “cute or romantic town.”

The pioneers, who filed the “first claims”- were miners. The “Bodie township,” was by the rules and organization of the membership of the Bodie Miners’ Union. The Standard Mine, Bodie Mine, Syndicate Mine, Dudley, Bechtel Mine did not “own the housing, stores or bank” in Bodie. Bodie was an “enterprising place”- with stables, blacksmiths, warehouses and “make-shift buildings and barns.”

The Bodie Miners’ Union Meeting Hall was the “center of the town,” Built by the 190 members in 1879- the Meeting Hall- It served the entire “lawless community.” For the men, it was the “social and spiritual” center for gathering and entertainment.

Prior to arriving in Bodie, or organizing “Miners’ Union”- outside of Bodie, the men individually had “brotherhood” membership and “spiritual bonds of connection” with the Masonic Lodge, or I. O. O. F. (Oddfellow) Fraternal organizations.

Also, many of the miners’ had come from the Virginia City (or the Comstock Mine) - they had paid into the Miners’ Union of Virginia City. The Bodie Miners’ Union Constitution & By-Laws - December 22, 1877 is very similar to the Miners’ Union of Virgina City- Constitution & By-Laws.

The “rules and conduct of Bodie” was by the Bodie Miners’ Union- and that included “cemetery ground.” Thus, the organization of the Bodie Cemetery- just like Virgina City- a Masonic Cemetery, IOOF Cemetery, and a Miners’ Union Cemetery.