About 1 mile northeast of here lies Mono Diggins, the first extensive placer mining excitement east of the Sierra. Cord Norst is generally credited with the discovery on July 4, 1859. A town, Monoville, boasted a transient population of 500 to 1,000. A post office established December 12, 1859, closed by April 2, 1862, as prospectors moved to Aurora. One of the most ambitious hydraulic water projects of the time transported water from Virginia Creek to the diggings by open ditches known as the Mono Ditch, whose remnants may still be seen nearby.