William Ajax Underground Store

Out here, where the nearest supplies were a hard day off, William Ajax built a store into the ground. Beginning around 1870, it grew into an underground emporium in the empty middle of Rush Valley — a full general store dug beneath the desert, with lodging and hot meals for whoever passed. It outfitted the mining camps at Stockton, Ophir, and Mercur and boarded travelers crossing the west desert. Then the railroad came through and made the long detour pointless. The family closed it in 1914; fire took the building later. Only low mounds of earth mark it now.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Bingham Canyon Mine — 23 mi
  The largest man-made excavation on Earth

More markers nearby

• Rock Monument (Ophir Mail Drop) — 8.9 mi
• Aunt Libby's Dog Cemetary (sic) — 13 mi
• Stockton (3) Markers — 14 mi
• Camp Floyd Cemetery Veterans Memorial — 16 mi