News from the Field: Day 12--Geothermal Plant and Bodie

Today the group explored two aspects of exploitation of resources in the Eastern Sierra: a morning tour of the Casa Diablo geothermal power plant, followed by an afternoon at Bodie, a preserved mining town from the late 19th century. Our tour guide was Jack Shipley ('Bodie Jack') a 12-year veteran ranger at Bodie State Park, who shared his extraordinary knowledge of the natural history of the Bodie Hills, the story of gold mining in the Sierra Nevada, and the unusual society that inhabited this mining village. We returned to SNARL for our last evening--cleanup, cards, and starlight strolls. Off for our last day in the Sierra tomorrow--a hike up Lundy Canyon and a closing barbeque. Then back to the White Mountain Research Station tomorrow evening.

May 30th

*We start the day with a tour of the Casa Diablo geothermal power plant, which uses superheated steam from the Long Valley magma body to generate 45 Megawatts of electricity.*
*Larry Nickerson, the operations superintendant for the plant, explains the geothermal technology.*
*The group looks on as Larry explains the background on geothermal development at Casa Diablo. A fumarole (steam vent) is visible in the background.*
*The most active fumarole at Casa Diablo*
*A zone of hydrothermal alteration caused by the emission of steam and hydrothermal fluids along a fault zone*
*The group gets a close-up look at one of the fumaroles*
*Larry shows us the inner workings of the control room*
*And the group checks out the state-of-the-art computer control system*
*Before we leave the site, the group can't resist posing in front of another hazard sign!*
*On to Bodie, a remarkably well preserved mining town from the late 19th-early 20th century*
*Our host is Jack Shipley, a long-time (but recently retired) ranger at the Bodie State Park*
*Jack leads the group on the trek up to Bodie from our picnic area.*
*Jack helps reconstruct life in a mining village*
*A tour of the 'Stamp Mill', where ore-bearing rocks are crushed and gold is separated from the rock matrix*
*Jack shows the stamp mortar--where all the rocks got crushed*
*The giant flywheel used to power all of the machinery in the stamp mill*
*Outside the stamp mill, Jack answers questions about mining technology*
*We head up to the mining area, where Jack discusses the history and technology of mining in the Sierra. The grand view of the Sierra crest in the background.*
*The Bodie gas station...*
*The coffee dispenser from the dry goods store--perfectly preserved from 70 years ago. And can you see the light bulb--burning continuously since 1960! ago*
*And some unusual merchandise at the drug counter...*
*View a short clip of the active fumarole at Casa Diablo [390 KB]*	Click here
*View Tom's description of the Mono Basin panorama from north of Lee Vining [4.7 MB]*	Click here
*View a segment of Jack Shipley's description of mining history at Bodie [3.4 MB]*	Click here