Established in 1870, William Ajax's unique two-story underground store measured 80 by 100 feet, with the lower floor in some places 20 feet below ground, and Ajax excavated it with a shovel and wheelbarrow. Support timbers cut from juniper and pine in the mountains west of the site were carried from his daily walks there, and the roof was made of poles covered with juniper boughs, sod, and clay, with sunlight entering through south-facing windows in the roof. A post office called "Centre" was added soon afterward. The store offered a wide variety of merchandise including food, clothing, housewares, hardware, tools, and medicines, arranged in department-store style, with an estimated value exceeding $70,000. Patrons came from mining camps, sheep and cattle ranches, and the communities of Rush and Vernon Valley. Meals and lodging were provided for travelers, and their livestock was cared for in sheds and corrals west of the present highway. Wild grass hay cut in nearby meadows was sold to miners in Stockton, Ophir, and Mercur. The railroad through Rush Valley made supplies and travel more accessible and reduced the need for a store in the area. William Ajax died in 1899, and his family operated the store until 1914, when they liquidated the merchandise. The building was then abandoned and later burned, perhaps by railroad transients camping there, and only mounds of dirt remain just east of the monument.