Mining in Bridgeport

Bodie's 20th-century rival was a paragon of respectability and calm—but the mines eventually ran dry.

This trench, some 2,300 feet long, is only the most prominent relic of a largely forgotten episode of placer mining on the east slope of the Sierra Nevada.

Standing in a state of "arrested decay," this ghost town allows for a detailed peek into Gold Rush life in an unusually harsh climate.