W. S. Bodey was a prospector

Prospecting

Prospecting is the physical search for minerals, fossils, precious metals or mineral specimens, and is also known as fossicking.Prospecting is a small-scale form of mineral exploration which is an organised, large scale effort undertaken by mineral resource companies to find commercially viable ore...

 from Poughkeepsie, New York

Poughkeepsie (city), New York

Poughkeepsie is a city in the state of New York, United States, which serves as the county seat of Dutchess County. Poughkeepsie is located in the Hudson River Valley midway between New York City and Albany...

 who discovered gold in Eastern California

Eastern California

Eastern California is a term that refers to the eastern region of California, United States. It can refer to either the strip to the east of the crest of the Sierra Nevada, or to the easternmost counties of California.-Culture and history:...

.

Biography

Bodey's exact first name is uncertain. His name could be William, Waterman or Wakeman. In Poughkeepsie he owned his own business and was listed in the 1843 Poughkeepsie village directory. In the 1845 edition, he is listed as a tin

Tin

Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn and atomic number 50. It is a main group metal in group 14 of the periodic table. Tin shows chemical similarity to both neighboring group 14 elements, germanium and lead and has two possible oxidation states, +2 and the slightly more stable +4...

 manufacturer with his shop address of 345 Main Street. He is also listed in this same directory as having a home on the corner of South Hamilton and Montgomery streets.

Although Bodey was well respected within the community of Poughkeepsie, he desired a more adventurous life. In 1848, after receiving news of gold being discovered in California, Bodey said goodbye to his wife Sarah and his two children, and set sail for California and its gold on the Mathew Vasser. After rounding Cape Horn

Cape Horn

Cape Horn is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile, and is located on the small Hornos Island...

, Bodey landed in San Francisco in 1849.

In 1859, Bodey discovered gold in Eastern California

Eastern California

Eastern California is a term that refers to the eastern region of California, United States. It can refer to either the strip to the east of the crest of the Sierra Nevada, or to the easternmost counties of California.-Culture and history:...

, north of Mono Lake

Mono Lake

Mono Lake is a large, shallow saline lake in Mono County, California, formed at least 760,000 years ago as a terminal lake in a basin that has no outlet to the ocean...

. This discovery sparked a gold rush

Gold rush

A gold rush is a period of feverish migration of workers to an area that has had a dramatic discovery of gold. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, Brazil, Canada, South Africa, and the United States, while smaller gold rushes took place elsewhere.In the 19th and early...

: the town of Bodie, California

Bodie, California

Bodie is a ghost town in the Bodie Hills east of the Sierra Nevada mountain range in Mono County, California, United States, about 75 miles southeast of Lake Tahoe. It is located east-southeast of Bridgeport, at an elevation of 8379 feet . As Bodie Historic District, the U.S. Department of the...

 sprang up around Bodey's discovery. Bodey did not profit from the discovery: he died in November 1859, after making a supply trip to Monoville

Monoville, California

Monoville is a former settlement in Mono County, California. It was located about south-southeast of Bridgeport.In 1859, gold was discovered at Monoville. A conduit was constructed to divert water from Virginia Creek to aid hydraulic mining operations...

and getting lost in a blizzard.