The first gold rush in American history occurred in north Georgia; it preceded the mining booms in the West by almost two decades. Published in 1956, "Auraria" tells the story of the mining town at the center of Georgia's gold frenzy. Auraria, which reached its zenith in the 1830s, eventually faded into a ghost town by the twentieth century. E. Merton Coulter gives readers more than a local study by placing Auraria's fascinating story in the context of larger regional and national developments.