Aurora, located about ten miles east of Bodie was actually the first in the area with silver and gold deposits discovered in 1860 and by 1863, a full fledged town was in the making. Mono County (CA) named Aurora the county seat however, it was also declared the county seat of Esmeralda County NV. and in 1863, voters were able to vote on both sides of the border. It wasnt until 1864 when the boundary dispute was finally settled that it was determined that Aurrora was squarely in Nevada. A rather substantial town, Aurora was made almost entirely of brick. This was a blessing but also a curse. Bodie, made almost entierely of wood is still standing today while there is pretty much nothing left in Aurora. Used brick had value and could be torn down and carted away to be used elsewhere. The three photos below show Aurora in 1900, 1950 and finally 1960. I was looking through my photos and I have nothing of Aurora mainly because there is so little there to remind one of what was happening back in the day. The one thing that has survived...after a fashion, is the Aurora Cemetery. There are numerous marked graves along with some pretty elaborate headstones. On Thursday, when I was there I noticed this brand new memorial put up at the Aurora cemetery to commemorate the veterans of long past wars buried in the cemetery. There was a group of people there and while I was looking at it, this one gal walked over and started talking to me. She was one of the movers and shakers behind the construction of this stone. She is also an author of a book: AURORA NEVADAS SILENT CITY ON THE HILL. She had a copy of the book in her vehicle which I bought not knowing what I was getting. Well, I can tell you, that is book is a gem. Ive wandered around this cemetery before and often wondered who these people are and what happened to them. Sue Silver has done exhaustive research using old newspapers, geneology sites as well as family accounts to tell the story. For example, there is a family plot of the Marden family. They had arrived in Aurora in search of the golden fleece after working for some time at a saw mill located above Twin Lakes near Bridgeport. Their story is quite interesting and they had done well in Aurora. They had a total of six children but tragically, four of them died in a period of two weeks to a diphtheria outbreak. Sue Silver has written a great book here and is available through Amazon . for $15.00. (Christmas for the history person in your family?) By the way, if you live in Hawthorne and/or know Sue, steer her toward this page. I really didnt have the opportunity to talk with her as much as I would have liked.
Posted on: Sat, 25 Oct 2014 15:36:40 +0000
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