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Photograph of Aurora
Photograph by USGS, Public domain. Via Wikimedia Commons.

Aurora

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.

From the record

“Aurora is a ghost town in Mineral County in the west central part of the US state of Nevada, approximately 22 mi (35 km) southwest of the town of Hawthorne, three miles from the California border.”

Wikipedia article Aurora, Nevada, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 4 National Register listings published here for Mineral County · listed in 1974 · category: District.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service · the Wikipedia article

The listing

  • Address. SW of Hawthorne, Hawthorne, 89415
  • When was it listed? July 1974
  • Category. district
  • Census division. Hawthorne
  • National Register reference number. 74001147 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Fires near this property

13 since 1993

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 13 fires within 5 miles of Aurora between 1993 and 2020, burning about 14,723 acres in total. 12 started naturally. None was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Natural12
Missing data/not specified/undetermined1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
24 September 1994Naturalunder an acreHumboldt-Toiyabe National ForestUSFS 075
24 September 1994Naturalunder an acreHumboldt-Toiyabe National ForestUSFS 077
24 September 1994Naturalunder an acreHumboldt-Toiyabe National ForestUSFS 078
7 August 1997Naturalunder an acreHumboldt-Toiyabe National ForestBALD
3 August 1993Naturalunder an acreHumboldt-Toiyabe National Forestnot named
18 August 2013Natural14,230 acresHumboldt-Toiyabe National ForestSPRING PEAK
10 August 1999Naturalunder an acreHumboldt-Toiyabe National ForestAURORA CRATER
22 July 2013Natural4.2 acresHumboldt-Toiyabe National Forest167

Every fire recorded in Mineral County

Mines and quarries near this property

10 of 40 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 40 workings within 5 miles of Aurora: 25 past producers, 6 occurrences, 5 producers, 3 plants. 8 still produce. What was taken out: Gold, Silver, Gold, Silver, Uranium. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Aurora MineGold, Silver, Lead, SeleniumProducer1865
Pilot MountainsTungstenProducerScheelite
Utah MineGold, Silver, LeadPast Producer
White Eagle MineMolybdenumPast Producer
Antelope MineSilver, GoldPast Producer
Aurora District-NevadaSilver, GoldProducer1860
Aurora ProspectsSilver, GoldUnknown1900
DonnellyPerliteOccurrence
FluffrockPerlitePast Producer
Perlite Placer ClaimPerliteOccurrence

Every working recorded in Mineral County

Storms near this property

16 since 1997

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Hawthorne, the town this property stands in, in 16 storm reports between 1997 and 2024: 4 flash flood, 4 hail, 3 thunderstorm wind, 2 heavy rain. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
June 2003Thunderstorm WindHawthorne$10,000Thunderstorm outflow winds were estimated at 75 mph in Hawthorne, NV. Fence and roof damage occurred at several locations in town due to the wind gusts. At least one home storage building was also destroyed.
June 2024FloodHawthorne-Nevada Department of Transportation (NDOT) located 14.0 mi S of Hawthorne, NV reported road closed due to flooding on SR-359 both directions near Pole Line Rd.
June 2023Heavy RainHawthorne-At trained spotter located 1.0 mi NNE of Hawthorne, NV, and an AWOS station (KHTH-Hawthorne Industrial Airport) located 1.0 mi NNW of Hawthorne, NV, reported total rainfall amounts of 0.96 inches and 0.74 inches respectively.
September 2023HailHawthorne-A trained spotter located 1.0 mi NE of Hawthorne, NV, reported a severe thunderstorm dropped several dime to half-inch size hailstones along with a few one-inch size hailstones.
September 2023Debris FlowHawthorne-Nevada Department of Transportation (NDOT) reported a second flash flooding event 8.0 mi S of Hawthorne, NV when strong thunderstorms producing heavy rainfall caused debris flows and flooding across Nevada State Route 359. A partial collapse occurred on the southbound lane of Nevada State Route 359 that closed the road at 4:11 PM PST, Sunday, September 3, 2023.
September 2023Flash FloodHawthorne-A relayed flash flood report from Mineral County Search and Rescue. A mixture of rocks, water, mud and debris of unknown depth closed NV-359 at milepost 9. Event time based on a separate NDOT report of water on the road near the same location, or 22.0 mi S of Hawthorne, NV.
July 2023Flash FloodHawthorne-NV-359 closed in Mineral County near mile post 25 due to flooding. Reported by NDOT.
June 2021Thunderstorm WindHawthorne-Measured from NDOT Hwy 95 station.
June 2015HailHawthorne-The Nevada Division of Emergency Management reported golf-ball sized hail.
June 2015Tornado (EF1)Hawthorne-The storm survey was supplemented by a public video of the tornado moving along 5th street in Hawthorne. The tornado was determined to be EF-1 for 0.3 miles on the east side of Hawthorne (near 5th street) and EF-0 elsewhere. Approximately 10 to 15 homes and businesses were severely damaged along with power lines and road signs. One 2 foot diameter tree was blown over onto a mobile home and 2 vehicles were severely damaged. This tornado was associated with a non-supercell thunderstorm.
July 2014Flash FloodHawthorne-A spotter reported that highway 359 south of Hawthorne and Lucky Boy Pass Road were closed due to flash flooding/debris flows. At least one vehicle was stranded in mud. A video was shared on Facebook showing fast-flowing water over highway 359.
June 2008Thunderstorm WindHawthorne-A trained weather spotter located one mile SSE of Hawthorne estimated a wind gust of 54 knots (62 mph).
August 2004Heavy RainHawthorne-A total of 0.82 inches of rain fell in 40 minutes.
July 2002HailHawthorne-1 inch hail
September 1997Flash FloodHawthorne-A flash flood triggered a mudslide six miles south of Hawthorne and caused temporary closure of Highway 359. The mudslide was a quarter of a mile long and three to six inches deep. Significant damage was not reported.
June 2015HailHawthorne-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Mineral County

Map coverage status

No historic map-sheet match is published for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary. Browse the county's mapped places while that work is pending.

Sources for this property

National Archives recordThe nomination case file for reference 74001147 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia articleCommunity-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Mineral CountyAll 4 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

  • Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
  • Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
  • How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
  • Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
  • Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
  • Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.