175.13 “Esmeralda” had just had a run] The principal town in the Esmeralda mining district was Aurora (claimed by both California and Nevada, until the resolution of the boundary dispute in the fall of 1863), which was located in the Sierra Nevada foothills about a hundred miles southeast of Carson City (see supplement B, map 3). Following the organization of the district in August 1860, Aurora experienced a boom, reaching a population of nearly two thousand by August 1861. Typical of the glowing reports from the area is this one from the Carson City Silver Age for early September: “Now is the time for capitalists to invest. Ground that can be bought at the present time for ten and fifteen dollars, in six months cannot be bought for five times that amount” (“Summary of Mining News,” Mining and Scientific Press 4 [5 Oct 61]: 5, reprinting the Carson City Silver Age; Kelly 1862,14,238–42; Paher, 466). Spurred by such reports, Clemens visited Aurora briefly in September 1861, returning in April 1862 for a five-month stay. Aurora’s prosperity reached its peak in early 1864; by the spring of 1865 half the population had left (L1, 122, 184–241; Angel, 418).  

Chapter 26: note for 175.13," in Roughing It : an electronic text. 2016 

"When Clemens arrived, Aurora consisted of about 3,000 men living in canvas tents, dugouts in the hillsides, wooden shacks and out in the open.  With the recent stage service from Carson City, 25-30 newcomers arrived each day.  Brick buildings, a symbol of faith in a mining camp, were rapidly being thrown up. Like other mining camps, Aurora was far from a supplu point.  Food, feed and mining supplies were hauled 130 miles from Carson City.  Food prices were high and the cost of feeding a horse for a week was astronomical." (Williams pg 12)