Page 33 - 2006 DT 12 Issues

I n T h i s I s s u e !

Featured Article
Nevada’s Ghost Towns.........................1
Special
Quiz.......................................................7
Departments
News & Notes.......................................2
Programs & Hikes.................................4
M a y 2 0 0 6 Desk Schedule.....................................6

Bulletin Board.......................................8

NEVADA’S GHOST TOWNS . . . A walk with the past. town, the brick buildings remained in
some abundance until 1946 when the
by Chuck Kleber bricks were stripped for use elsewhere.
Except for some scattered ruins, little
t has been said that there are more rushed to fi nd it. California said it was evidence of Aurora remains. However,
ghost towns than inhabited sites in Mono County. Nevada said it was there has been some renewed mining
Iin Nevada. They sprawl across the in Esmeralda County, but Aurora was activity in the area.
entire state, a unique reminder of an more interested in its riches and found

era that flashed brilliantly and then dis- no problem in sending representa- Genoa — In sharp contrast to
appeared . . . almost. Elko County has tives to both state governments. In the so many ghost towns, Genoa has an
dozens of them, most nearly forgotten, early 1860s, Aurora had over 10,000 abundance of buildings in remarkably
like Jiggs and Ferguson Springs. Some people, including Samuel Clemens good condition. Not only does it have
of the towns that appeared almost (Mark Twain), striving to get a share the distinction of being the oldest per-
overnight with news of a huge gold or of the $30 million eventually mined. manent settlement in the state with the
silver strike have now become isolated There were 21 first stagecoach
sites with hardly a sign of what once saloons, 12 station, it also has
was there; Aurora is one. A handful hotels and two the Genoa Bar,
still have some hardy citizens with newspapers— the oldest saloon
a story to tell among structures that one of them where you can
remain—like Genoa. humorously still name your
Even if no one is there, the ghosts named the Au- poison . . . still
are present. You can hear the raucous rora Borealis. serving whiskey,
sounds of the saloons, the rumors of Bodie, one of Old Genoa bar but with a wider
a new strike, the sharp crack of a gun, California’s choice than the
the vibrancy of it all . . . and the hopes most infamous pioneers enjoyed. When founded in
that came and went in places like . . . and bawdy towns, was just 15 miles 1851, it was called Mormon Station.
away over a very rough road and Genoa was never a gold or silver strike
Aurora — Three prospectors with Aurora’s rival. By 1865, just five bonanza, but it served a vital role as a
a sense of the romantic named her after years after the big strike, Aurora had trading post and supply point for wag-
the goddess of dawn following an 1860 lost half its population as the gold on trains and eventually became an
gold strike. She was different from dwindled. Bodie was still enjoying a agricultural community. For a while, it
the others, for in an ongoing border boom and delighted in its neighbor’s was the seat of local government until
dispute both Nevada and California problems, but it wasn’t funny to Au- eclipsed by nearby Carson City. After
claimed this booming product of gold rora, where it was said one departing that, it began a prolonged decline. In
fever. It didn’t matter that the North family exclaimed, “Good-bye, God. 1910, half of the town was destroyed
and South were about to go to war; We’re going to Bodie.” Although Au-
here was gold and the prospectors rora was nearly fi nished by 1870 as a
Ghost Towns, continued on page 6