Aurora

A silver camp claimed by two states

Aurora sits at about 7,400 feet in the Esmeralda Mining District of Mineral County, near Hawthorne. The National Register nomination says gold and silver were first found in the area in 1860 (the scan is hard to read at that digit), and that prospectors filed 350 claims within about two months. A site history on Destination 4x4 says Aurora was established in September 1860, names James M. Braley, William B. Hurd and James Corey as having staked claims in Esmeralda Gulch, and says the town took its name from the Roman goddess of dawn.

The camp sat on a disputed state line. According to the nomination, the California Legislature made Aurora the seat of Mono County in March 1861, and the Nevada Legislature later that year made it the seat of Esmeralda County. A boundary survey in 1864 placed the town three miles inside Nevada. A 2016 Nevada Magazine article describes two sets of county courts running side by side for nearly two years. Esmeralda County was divided in 1911, and Aurora is now in Mineral County.

Boom and decline

The nomination gives about 5,000 residents in 1863, with 700 houses, 20 stores, 22 saloons and 16 quartz mills, and 7,000 in 1864. Destination 4x4 gives roughly 5,000 in 1863 as well, says some estimates run to 6,000, and counts 65 saloons, which does not match the nomination. Neither source gives Aurora a population of 10,000; the nomination attributes that figure to Bodie, California, about 10 miles southeast, in 1879, and says many Aurora residents moved there.

Totals for the district differ. The nomination says the mines produced over $30 million, with only about $2 million recorded after 1869. Destination 4x4 estimates $27 million in ore from 1860 to 1869.

Samuel Clemens, who wrote as Mark Twain, spent time here in these years. The nomination says he briefly tried mining in Aurora, and his account appears in Roughing It. Destination 4x4 says he mined there and wrote for the Esmeralda Star in 1862. Nevada Magazine says he is believed to have sent sketches to the Territorial Enterprise from Aurora.

The nomination says that by 1870 half the houses were empty and many mills and buildings had been dismantled and moved, and that about 500 people remained in 1880. Destination 4x4 puts the figure of about 500 at 1869 instead. The nomination notes claims worked on Last Chance Hill between 1880 and 1892 and relatively extensive activity between 1914 and 1918, and says the early mining period ended about 1890.

What remains and visiting

The nomination says about 100 buildings still stood shortly after the 1870 decline, and that many brick buildings were torn down after World War II for their salvaged brick. It describes the site in 1972 as fallen buildings, rubble, foundations and the cemetery. Destination 4x4 lists foundations, mine tailings and scattered artifacts such as bottles and tools. Nevada Magazine mentions a kiln near the town.

The nomination lists the ownership as private, with the owners named in an attachment held at the Mineral County Courthouse in Hawthorne, and describes the site as unoccupied and unrestricted to the public. That was written in 1972. Respect any posted private property signs.

Destination 4x4 puts Aurora about 22 miles southwest of Hawthorne, reached by rough roads, and says the site is largely unmarked. A Nevada Magazine writer turned off State Route 338 onto National Forest Road 028 and, with deep snow, had to leave the four-wheel-drive vehicle and walk the last couple of miles. That account dates from 2016. Road conditions change, so check with the land manager or local authorities before going. Leave all bottles, tools and other artifacts where they lie.