Prohibition Years! 1920-1933
PAGDIN — Used during “Prohibition (1920-December 3, 1933)- for “Alcoholic Beverage transaction” in Bodie, California.
December 5, 1933——NATIONWIDE PROHIBITION ended with the ratification of the TWENTY- FIRST AMENDMENT which repealed the EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT.
Prohibition in the United States was a Nationwide Constitutional ban on the Production, Importation, Transportation and Sale of Alcoholic Beverages, that remained in place from 1920-1933. Mandated under the 18th Amendment to the United States Constitution. December 5, 1933- Ended Nationwide Prohibition.
In 1920- The population of Bodie, Mono County, California listed in the U. S. Federal Census was 110 Citizens.
Ten years later- the 1930 U. S. Federal Census counted and lists 228. (1940- Federal Census- 90 Citizens.
The unusual placement of the “Pot Metal” PAGDIN grave marker, is it location between the two LOCKWOOD childrens headstone (which do not have a “surrounding wood or metal fence.”
Today, the easily removal metal plates, are both missing. Lost to time- or from “purposefully removal.”
This grave-site most possibly was used during the “Prohibition Years (1920-1933)” for the “transaction of alcoholic beverages.” Bodie was the perfect place to hid quantities of “Bootleg.”
Bodie was a remote, cold and had “warehouses” where bottled- alcoholic- beverages could be stored. The risk for Law Enforcement was minimal for coming to the un-accessible location. Because the road to Bodie was impassable much of the Winter and Spring months- the rain and snowstorms made and kept Bodie as a perfect place to store of “bootleg liquor.”
The Bodie Cemetery was also a very easy “Landmark” for Bootleggers - The White Oblique Garfield Monument stood tall, and recognizable to everyone entering Bodie proper, during the snow-covered in the Winter and sage-covered in the Summer months. It would not be an uncommon sight for an “outsider” to be visiting its Cemetery- especially paying respect at a child’s grave. Once acquiring “transaction instruction”- the “Outsider,” could make the necessary transaction of business and leave Bodie with the “Mislabeled Supplies” stored in the Warehouses.