Aura

Elko County

Excitement sprang up with revivals in the Bull Run and Blue Jacket areas in 1905. By 1906, the town of Aura was on the map. Aura was not an actual mining town, but acted more as a hub for other mining camps and sites in the area. Aura included a store, saloon and at least one boardinghouse. Conflicting accounts argue whether Aura had a newspaper called the Concentrator. Two gurus on the subject have disagreeing writings. Paher stated that it existed. Hall stated that it did not. I would think that since Hall wrote about it later, that maybe later evidence suggests that it didn’t. A school was built in 1907 and held classes until 1927. However, by 1917 the boom in the area was almost dead. The Aura area is still massive Northern Nevada cattle ranching country.

I apologize for the single, terrible photo. We were hunting and weren't concentrating on ghost town photos. It was also taken shortly after the massive Martin fire and the area was literally scorched earth. Update: We got back up there while hunting in Aug/Sept. 2022 and I took better photos. The landscape is coming back very nicely. Compare the first photo with the recent 2022 photos.

Post Office:  July 1906 to Sept 1921

Last Trip/ Road Conditions:  Many times. The road was good over the top of Maggie Summit. This road is out in the middle of nowhere. It's also located at high elevation and gets brutally cold here in the winter. I would use extreme caution during any winter travel. It takes you from Mountain City Highway over the Bull Run Mountain Range into the Independence Valley.