Although gold is still produced in the area, little remains of Aurora, once a prominent Gold Rush mining town. Gold was struck in this area around 1860, leading to the town’s first (and biggest) boom. At Aurora’s peak in the summer of 1863, more than 5,000 people called it home. When Aurora was first founded, time the California state line had not been surveyed, and since Aurora was thought to lie in California, it became the county seat of Mono County in 1861. But Nevada territory also claimed the town, and…
