In 1857, gold was discovered in Dogtown which is about seven miles south of Bridgeport. This led to a mining boom in the area.
Other gold strikes occurred in the Mono region, including Aurora in 1860. Aurora became a booming town, at one point reaching 10,000 in population. Mark Twain spent some time there mining. With a shortage of wood, most of the town was built of brick
 |
| Aurora Mining Town and County Seat |
At one time Mono County was second only to Nevada County in gold production. Mono County was formed in April 1861 and Aurora was named as the county seat. Aurora's mines were so rich that miners came from all over the west. Travel in the spring was much easier than in the winter or colder months. In the Spring of 1863, Aurora had 760 houses, 20 stores, and 22 saloons. Like most mining boom towns, the population had a small number of women and children compared to a large male population.
 |
| 1876 Map of Aurora and Bridgeport. Note that Bodie just west of Aurora barely within the California state line is not listed. |
Although California was convinced Aurora was well within the California border, Nevada Territory believed Aurora was within their jurisdiction and they claimed it as the county seat of Esmeralda County. Both California State and Nevada Territory governed the fast-growing gold mining town at the same time while they waited on the results of a U.S. Government survey that had been requested to determine exactly where the California and Nevada boundary fell. Its California assemblyman was the speaker of the house while the Nevada legislative member was elected as president of the Nevada Territorial Legislature. During this time, the records for each county were kept separately.
 |
| Esmeralda County Courthouse built in Aurora in 1874 |
In September 1863, the survey results determined that Aurora was situated approximately three miles within Nevada Territory. The Mono County officials packed up the offices and all the records for their county and moved them to Bodie, a mining town a few miles to the west that was safely within the border for California and Mono County.
 |
| 1895 Map of Mono Co. California and Mineral Co. Nevada. Note that the map shows Bodie, but not Aurora. |
After a special election in April 1864, Bridgeport was named as the county seat for Mono County.
In the meantime, Aurora remained the county seat for Esmeralda County until it began to go the way of all cities built upon gold and silver mining. As the town began to fail, the county seat was moved to Goldfield. Aurora soon found it itself in a new county, Mineral, with the county seat in Hawthorne 27 miles to the east. As the town completely failed, it became a ghost town. The brick buildings were dismantled, and many of the used bricks from Aurora ended up in Los Angeles homes.
 |
| Aurora as a ghost town before most buildings were dismantled |
Although my latest book in the Eastern Sierra Brides 1884 series, Haunted by Love, takes place about twenty years after Bridgeport became the county seat for Mono County, it is easy to understand how its early history as the supply hub and agricultural center in a region of boom and bust mining towns led to its stability. My story is set both in Bridgeport at the Leavitt House, a popular hostelry servicing travelers in the Eastern Sierra-Nevada region, and in Robinson Creek area, part of the Big Meadows that supported cattle, sheep and hay-raising, as well as wood from the foothills immediately to the west. With its economic base being established on agriculture and shipping, it remained an established city in the region long after Aurora had begun to fade into a has-been former gold town.
Today I am giving away one copy of Big Meadows Valentine, the first book in the Eastern Sierra Brides 1884, series to one person selected from among those who leave a comment on this blog by midnight, PDT Tuesday, September 20th.
Zina Abbott is the pen name used by Robyn Echols for her historical novels. The first four novellas in the Eastern Sierra Brides 1884 series, Big Meadows Valentine, A Resurrected Heart, Her Independent Spirit, and Haunted by Love are now available. He Is a Good Man was published as part of the Lariats, Letters and Lace anthology.
https://www.amazon.com/Haunted-Love-Eastern-Sierra-Brides-ebook/dp/B01I1Y6DXO/
Hey Zina! Great post. Since it's our birthday bash this week, let's give a shout out to your latest release, HAUNTED BY LOVE! Here the blurb!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful Hazel Jessup arrives in Bridgeport, California, after being turned out by her guardian and sent across the country to join her sister. But Hazel has misgivings. She hasn’t had any response to the letters she’s sent to her sister for several months. When Hazel arrives at Hiram Leavitt’s inn, things take a turn for the worse when the man who’s been hired to see her safely to her destination betrays her. She is given a room she must share with another occupant—a specter named Charlotte, who only Hazel can communicate with.
Luther Caldwell prepares to leave Bridgeport with a wagonload of supplies for the mining town of Lundy. Hiram Leavitt begs him to take Hazel with him and reunite her with her sister. Though Luther has misgivings about transporting a young lady to Lundy on his freight wagon, he eventually agrees. Pretty Hazel laughs at his jokes and shares her own fanciful tale about an encounter with a ghost, the famed White Lady. As they draw closer to their destination, Luther becomes serious about only one thing—insuring that he wins Hazel’s heart. When she smiles at him, he knows he’s destined to be HAUNTED BY LOVE.
And here's the link at AMAZON for this story! What a neat take on this legend. Loved it!
ReplyDeletehttps://www.amazon.com/Haunted-Love-Eastern-Sierra-Brides-ebook/dp/B01I1Y6DXO/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1471284332&sr=1-1&keywords=Zina+Abbott
Release day is always exciting no matter how many books you have under your belt. :-) I always enjoy your articles about the early days of California and the gold rush era, and how you incorporate those historical tidbits into your stories.
ReplyDeleteI do love history. Thank you for sharing your research with us. I find it interesting how pieces of our past trigger stories we tell. Doris
ReplyDeleteA little explanation, here. I originally posted this in August, right in the middle of Prairie Rose Publications birthday bash. PRP asked that I save it a month and instead do a birthday bash post featuring my latest book in the series, HAUNTED BY LOVE. Some of the earlier comments are from before this change. But, today the offer of one free copy of the first book in the series, BIG MEADOWS VALENTINE, to one lucky winner chosen by random.org is in effect. Those who commented in August are still in this drawing, but I hope more people will leave a comment for a chance to win.
ReplyDeleteWhat do you think about a city being named a county seat in two different counties in two different states? That's something, isn't it?
There's a town south of me a couple of hours that is cut right in two by the state line of Texas and Oklahoma. The town is "Texhoma". :-) It's often referred to as the town joined at the seams.
ReplyDeleteDoris and Kaye, both of you send your emails addresses and I'll forward a copy of this book to you.
ReplyDelete