Southwest of Dahlonega, Auraria rose overnight in 1832 as thousands poured into newly opened Cherokee lands following the 1829 discoveries. Its very name nods to aurum—Latin for gold. Early miners swarmed the Etowah River and nearby branches, cradling and sluicing coarse gravels that yielded rich early returns. Stores, law offices and taverns lined dusty streets, and for a brief period Auraria served as the county seat. As legal challenges shifted government offices to the Cane Creek area, the settlement waned and Dahlonega ascended—eventually winning a federal branch mint in 1838. Around Auraria, placer and later lode operations continued at properties such as the Barlow, Gold Hill, Hedwig‑Chicago and Battle Branch mines. Today the remaining buildings and quiet fields remind visitors that Auraria was once a boomtown of the Georgia Gold Rush, a place where the region’s gold belt first became a national obsession.