Planning a road trip to Ajax, Utah means venturing into Rush Valley’s open rangeland, roughly 20 miles north of Vernon on Utah Route 36. You’ll find no signs marking the way, so track your mileage carefully. What awaits is one of the frontier West’s strangest stories—a fully functional underground department store that served miners and ranchers for nearly 30 years. Bring water, sturdy boots, and curiosity, because Ajax’s remarkable history runs much deeper than its quiet earthen mounds suggest.
Key Takeaways
- Ajax, Utah, sits in Rush Valley, roughly 20 miles north of Vernon along Utah Route 36, with no official signs marking the site.
- Bring a printed map, offline GPS, water, sun protection, and sturdy boots, as no facilities or services exist at the site.
- The site features earthen mounds and a historical marker where William Ajax’s underground store once operated from 1870 to 1899.
- Nearby ghost town St. John Station offers additional exploration opportunities, making it an ideal stop on the same road trip.
- Respect the fragile terrain by leaving all artifacts in place and photographing rather than disturbing the remaining earthworks and marker.
Is the Ajax, Utah Ghost Town Worth Visiting?
Although little remains of Ajax, Utah today, the ghost town still rewards curious travelers with a rare glimpse into one of the American West’s most unusual entrepreneurial stories — a fully underground department store, café, and hotel carved 20 feet into the earth. You won’t find standing walls or preserved storefronts here. What you’ll find is a hole in the ground, a historical marker, and earthen mounds whispering stories of Welsh settlers, resilient miners, and a hobo camp fire that erased what time hadn’t already claimed.
Urban legends surrounding Ajax’s underground world make the site spiritually charged for open-road seekers. For photography tips, arrive at golden hour — the low light dramatizes the earthen mounds beautifully. If you crave history beyond museum glass, Ajax delivers it raw.
Ajax’s Location in Rush Valley
You’ll find Ajax tucked into Rush Valley, a windswept stretch of southeastern Tooele County where Utah Route 36 cuts through the high desert.
The ghost town sits roughly 20 miles north of Vernon, midway between St. John Station and Vernon in a valley that once buzzed with miners and ranchers.
Today, coordinates 40°13′33″N, 112°23′32″W mark a quiet, almost featureless landscape where an entire underground community once thrived.
Rush Valley Geographic Position
Nestled in the heart of Rush Valley, Ajax sits roughly midway between St. John Station and Vernon, positioning you about 20 miles north of Vernon along Utah Route 36. This southeastern corner of Tooele County once hummed with miners, ranchers, and Welsh settlers carving lives from rugged terrain.
Rush Valley’s geography shaped everything — its broad expanse funneled trade, determined survival, and ultimately sealed Ajax’s fate when economic tides shifted.
You’ll find no urban decay softened by time here — nature reclaimed this land completely. What remains is raw, honest ground, preserved only through historical preservation efforts like the nearby marker.
The valley stretches wide around you, unchanged in its essential character. That geographic isolation that once defined Ajax still defines your visit today — vast, quiet, and unapologetically free.
Nearby Landmarks And Routes
Utah Route 36 is your lifeline to Ajax, threading north from Vernon through Rush Valley‘s open expanse until the ghost town site appears roughly 20 miles up the road. You’ll find yourself positioned midway between St. John Station and Vernon, where mining history once drove commerce underground—literally.
Key landmarks orienting your journey:
- Vernon anchors your southern starting point on Route 36, marking where Rush Valley’s ranching roots began
- St. John Station sits to the north, bracketing Ajax’s original mid-valley position
- The railroad corridor reshaped this region’s fate; railroad impact drew families away as mines declined, emptying the valley by 1900
A historical marker stands near the site, giving you something tangible to find when the open road delivers you to this windswept, forgotten ground.
Who Founded Ajax: and Why They Chose This Valley
Before Ajax earned its name, Welsh farmers recognized Rush Valley’s potential and claimed it as their own in 1863, raising hay and livestock across its wide, open floor. They called it Center, a practical nod to its mid-valley position between St. John Station and Vernon.
Welsh farmers saw Rush Valley’s promise first, planting roots in 1863 and naming their settlement Center.
Then William Ajax arrived in 1869, transferring his operation from Salt Lake City and transforming a simple settlement into something stranger. His underground department store became the stuff of urban legends, layered with folklore traditions about a merchant who literally carved commerce into the earth.
He served miners, ranchers, and drifters until his death in 1899.
You’re tracing the footsteps of a man who chose this valley not just for survival, but for reinvention — and that spirit still pulls adventurous travelers down Utah Route 36.
William Ajax and His Underground Department Store
What William Ajax built wasn’t just a store — it was a two-story underground world, its lower floor dropping 20 feet beneath the valley surface. This bold underground architecture kept temperatures stable year-round, letting you imagine browsing goods, eating in the café, or sleeping in the hotel while winter howled above.
Ajax ran this operation from 1870 until his death in 1899.
His underground empire served:
- Miners and ranchers needing supplies in an isolated valley
- Travelers seeking food and lodging between settlements
- A community built around commerce rather than convenience
When the railroad arrived, economic decline followed fast. Mines emptied, families scattered, and by 1900, Ajax was finished. The man’s vision outlasted him only by months.
Why William Ajax Built His Store Underground
When you stand at the edge of that hole in the ground today, you’ll quickly understand why Ajax chose to build downward rather than upward.
Rush Valley’s climate is brutal, swinging between punishing summer heat and bone-cracking winter cold, and an underground structure naturally regulated those extremes without any mechanical help.
Underground Temperature Control Benefits
Though Utah’s Rush Valley could swing from brutal summer heat to bitter winter cold, William Ajax found a clever solution when he built his two-story store 20 feet below the earth’s surface. Underground insulation from surrounding soil delivered natural temperature regulation, keeping the space comfortable year-round without modern technology.
You’d have walked into a rare sanctuary where the earth itself did the work:
- Summer: Ground temps stayed cool while surface heat baked the valley
- Winter: Soil retained warmth, blocking bitter winds above ground
- Year-round: Consistent conditions protected goods, fed customers comfortably, and sheltered overnight guests
This wasn’t just clever engineering — it was freedom from the elements. Ajax turned geology into infrastructure, creating a self-sustaining environment that served miners and ranchers for nearly three decades.
Shelter From Harsh Elements
Building underground wasn’t just a novelty — it was survival logic in Rush Valley’s unforgiving climate. Utah’s high desert punishes settlers with brutal winters and scorching summers, making above-ground construction a gamble against the elements. William Ajax understood this and turned climate adaptation into competitive advantage.
His shelter strategies went beyond simple comfort. By digging two stories deep — reaching 20 feet below ground — Ajax created a stable environment where temperatures stayed manageable year-round.
Miners and ranchers traveling through Rush Valley knew they’d find reliable refuge inside his underground walls.
You’re fundamentally walking into a 19th-century entrepreneur’s calculated survival decision when you visit. Ajax didn’t fight the landscape; he worked with it, carving civilization directly into the earth itself.
Why Ajax Was Abandoned by 1914
Once thriving with miners and ranchers, Ajax began its quiet collapse when the railroad arrived and made remote mountain mines far less profitable to operate. Families packed up and moved toward easier lives, and William Ajax’s death in 1899 removed the town’s last anchor.
By 1914, the settlement was fully abandoned:
- Mine decline stripped away the customer base that kept the underground store alive.
- William Ajax’s death in 1899 ended the entrepreneurial spirit driving the community forward.
- A 1920s fire destroyed remaining structures after hobos occupied the site.
Today, historical preservation efforts include a roadside marker to honor what once stood here. Keep visitor safety in mind when exploring the earthen mounds — the ground remains uneven where that remarkable underground structure once existed.
What’s Left at the Ajax Ghost Town Site Today?
When you arrive at the Ajax ghost town site today, you won’t find standing walls or weathered storefronts — just earthen mounds where William Ajax’s remarkable two-story underground department store once thrived.
You’ll spot a historical marker nearby that anchors the site’s 1869 entrepreneurial story to the otherwise featureless Rush Valley landscape.
Look closer, and you’ll see the hole in the ground itself, a quiet but striking reminder of the underground world that once served miners, ranchers, and travelers before the town’s abandonment by 1914.
Earthen Mounds Remain
Although Ajax once buzzed with underground commerce, today you’ll find little more than earthen mounds and a historical marker where William Ajax’s remarkable subterranean department store once stood. These subtle rises carry real archaeological significance — they’re your only physical connection to an 1870 two-story underground world.
What you’ll encounter at the site:
- Earthen mounds marking where the lower floor once reached 20 feet below ground
- A historical marker honoring Ajax’s entrepreneurial legacy and cultural preservation efforts
- No standing structures — fire consumed the remaining buildings after hobos camped here in the 1920s
You’re fundamentally reading the land itself. Bring curiosity, respect the terrain, and let those quiet mounds tell their story of ambition, community, and eventual abandonment.
Historical Marker Nearby
What actually remains at Ajax beyond those earthen mounds? A historical marker stands nearby, giving you context for everything that once thrived underground. It’s a small but meaningful act of historical preservation, anchoring this forgotten valley to a real story of Welsh immigrants, underground commerce, and frontier resilience.
Don’t underestimate that marker. It transforms a hole in the ground into a destination worth seeking. Tourism development in ghost town exploration often hinges on exactly these modest touchstones — something tangible that connects your boots to history.
You’ll want to photograph it, read every word, and let the silence around you fill in the rest. No crowds, no entrance fees, no guided tours. Just you, open Utah sky, and a marker pointing toward 1869.
Underground Store Hole
Beyond the historical marker, the ghost town of Ajax offers one final, haunting artifact: a hole in the ground. This depression marks where William Ajax’s remarkable underground architecture once thrived — a two-story subterranean department store, café, and hotel reaching 20 feet below the valley floor.
Historical preservation hasn’t reconstructed anything here. What remains speaks louder through absence:
- The depression itself — earthen mounds outline where the underground walls once stood
- No standing structures — fire in the 1920s consumed whatever survived abandonment after 1914
- Pure open sky above — where customers once descended into a climate-controlled commercial world
You’re standing above a vanished civilization’s most ingenious solution to Utah’s brutal climate extremes. That hole isn’t emptiness — it’s evidence of remarkable 19th-century entrepreneurial freedom and ingenuity.
How to Reach Ajax on Utah Route 36
Tucked into Rush Valley’s wide open terrain, Ajax sits about 20 miles north of Vernon along Utah Route 36. It is positioned squarely between St. John Station and Vernon.
You’ll navigate open rangeland where wildlife encounters with pronghorn and jackrabbits aren’t uncommon, so keep your camera ready. Photography tips for this stretch: shoot during golden hour when the valley light cuts dramatically across the terrain, revealing subtle earthen mounds that mark Ajax’s footprint.
Utah Route 36 runs clean and uncrowded, making navigation straightforward. No turnoff signs celebrate Ajax’s existence, so track your mileage carefully from Vernon. You’re fundamentally reading the land itself.
A historical marker stands near the site, confirming you’ve arrived at what was once an extraordinary underground frontier enterprise, now reduced to silence and a hole in the ground.
What to Bring to an Unmaintained Ghost Town Site
Since Ajax offers zero facilities or services, packing smart separates a rewarding visit from a frustrating one. You’re venturing into an unmaintained Rush Valley site where earthen mounds and a single historical marker are your only companions.
Visitor safety depends entirely on your preparation.
- Navigation tools: Carry a printed map or offline GPS — cell service is unreliable along Utah Route 36’s remote stretches
- Essentials kit: Pack water, sun protection, and sturdy boots for uneven terrain surrounding the underground store’s remaining hole
- Documentation gear: Bring a camera to honor historical preservation — photographing the marker and earthen mounds creates a personal record of 1869 entrepreneurial history
You’re walking where Welsh settlers once traded goods underground.
Respect the site, leave nothing behind, and carry everything you need in.
Other Rush Valley Ghost Towns to Visit Near Ajax
Rush Valley holds more ghost town secrets beyond Ajax, and you’ll find St. John Station waiting just down Utah Route 36. This former stop once bustled with travelers and miners before silence reclaimed it.
Each site tells a distinct chapter of Utah’s frontier story, and exploring multiple locations deepens your understanding of the valley’s dramatic rise and fall.
Ghost town preservation remains a shared responsibility — take only photographs and leave every artifact undisturbed.
Visitor safety demands equal attention, since unstable ground, hidden foundations, and remote terrain create real hazards.
Travel with a partner, carry navigation tools, and inform someone of your route before heading out.
Rush Valley rewards the curious and the bold. Move through it deliberately, respect its fragile remnants, and let history speak for itself.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Year Did Welsh Farmers First Settle the Ajax Area?
You’ll find Ajax’s historical settlement dates back to 1863, when Welsh farmers first broke ground there. These agricultural origins shaped a free-spirited, hardworking community that transformed raw Rush Valley land into a thriving hay and livestock haven.
How Deep Did the Lower Floor of the Underground Store Reach?
When you explore Ajax’s abandoned undergrounds, you’ll discover the store excavation depths reached an remarkable 20 feet below ground. William Ajax didn’t just build a store — he carved a bold, freedom-defying subterranean world beneath Utah’s open skies.
What Was Ajax, Utah Originally Called Before Being Renamed?
You’ll love knowing that Ajax, Utah was originally called Center, reflecting its mid-valley position. As you explore this ghost town history, you’re uncovering old mining towns’ adventurous past, where freedom-seeking settlers once carved out bold, independent lives.
When Did Ajax Officially Become Classified as a Ghost Town?
Ironically, Ajax became a ghost town by 1914 — quite the tourist attraction with nothing left! You’ll find historical preservation reduced to a hole in the ground, where freedom-seekers once built an underground world worth exploring.
What Happened to the Remaining Structures After Hobos Occupied Ajax?
After hobos occupied Ajax in the 1920s, a fire consumed what remained. You’ll find no preservation efforts saved those structures — only haunted stories linger where flames erased the last echoes of this once-adventurous underground frontier town.
References
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z64RkLD33tw
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajax
- https://onlineutah.us/ajaxhistory.shtml
- https://www.wikiwand.com/en/map/Ajax
- http://www.jumpysblog.com/travels/ghosttowns/ghosttowns.htm
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ghost_towns_in_Utah
