James Stuart Cain residence - Photo by Daniel Mayer - Own work CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons - Link
James Stuart Cain residence - Photo by X Trippin , Own work CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons - Link
Prominent windows front the finest home in Bodie, owned by James Stuart Cain from the 1890s - 1940s. Jessie McGath originally built this house for his new wife in 1879, and J. S. Cain bought it in the 1890s. We can thank James Stuart Cain for the fact that the ghost town of Bodie is something more than a few derelict buildings sinking into the ground.
Cain was born in 1854 in Cananda and moved to Carson City, Nevada, in 1875. Shortly thereafter he and Martha D. Wells of nearby Genoa were married and moved in 1879 at age 25 to Bodie.
He began his rise to being Bodie’s number one citizen builting an empire starting by putting lumber barges on Mono Lake and transporting timber to support mine shafts, stoke boilers for machinery, build & heat buildings, and cook food. He expanded into wagon freighting and, with Thomas Holt, leased the Bodie Railroad and Lumber Company. He would go on to own the town’s bank.
He and Joe Maguire leased a block of ground from the Standard Mine and Mill and took out $90,000 in gold in 90 days. Standard would not renew the lease, but Cain eventually acquired the company through court action. Eventually he would own most of the town, which he and his family would love and take care of — an effort that included hiring on-site security.
James Stuart Cain marker at Bodie
When he passed away in 1938 at 84 years of age, his family continued to maintain the vacant town and security right up until the time they passed it over to California in 1962 for a state park. Through his faith and efforts Bodie remains today.
James Stuart Cain was instrumental in bringing electric power to Bodie as described here and here.
James Stuart Cain's house in Bodie State Historic Park - August 25, 1962
James Stuart Cain residence living room fireplace July 1962
by Ronald Partridege - Library of Congress