(GPS: N37 53.275 W118 57.650)
Today I am going to cover a quick stop one can make south of Mono Lake on Route 120 on the way to Benton. What this blog should do is make a few connections with what I did in December and a few future blogs I will do this year. This is another one where there is very little left of what once was.
The problem that the town of Bodie and a few of the others had was they were a little too far away from the trees found more to the west on the high mountains. They had to find a way to get lumber for building and for fuel. While there were a few others that brought lumber into these towns, it was Mono Mills that was the answer during their existence.
While driving along the 120 there is a monument just off the road to look at. You can click or right click open in a new window the following pictures to read them if you need to:
At the kiosk that stands over the site they have a bunch of signs:
This is looking down on the what little remains of the mill area. You can barely see a tiny part of the Mono Lake in the background.
So, what they did was build a train track from the mills through the east side of Mono Lake to Bodie. Some more of the debris:
This is from the mills looking west. I just wanted to show that trees that grow here.
The area is a little odd for tree growth. What you see above seems normal for an area like this. If you have seen High Plains Drifter, then you may remember the scene where the outlaws get out of prison. That area is just to the west of here. It has a sandy white dirt look to it, yet some trees grow out there.
In the above picture you can see little tiny trees just starting to grow. I am not going to post the other picture I have, but if I were to turn around to other side of the road you would see a few full grown trees like that.
