Stockton Jail
09 Friday Sep 2016
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Tag Archives: Stockton
Rush Valley, Utah
16 Monday May 2016
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This area was first settled beginning in 1856. In 1934, a large area of some 33 square miles, comprising the settlements of Clover, St. John, and Vernon, was incorporated into a town called Onaqui. The incorporation was essentially a bureaucratic tactic to secure federal aid for development of municipal infrastructure, including from the Rural Electrification Administration. When the people of Vernon were granted a petition to incorporate separately on 22 February 1972, the remaining town was renamed Rush Valley.
William Ajax Underground Store
28 Sunday Dec 2014
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William Ajax Underground Store
William and Emma J. Hughes Ajax
The unique two-story underground building was established in 1870. Shortly thereafter a post office called “Centre” was added. The building was 80 x 100 feet, in some places the lower floor was 20 feet below ground. The excavation was done by William Ajax using a shovel and wheelbarrow. The building’s support timbers were cut from juniper and pine trees. These trees were located in the mountains west of here where he walked to and from each day to cut the timbers. The roof was constructed of poles covered with juniper boughs, sod and clay. The store was illuminated by sunlight coming through south-facing windows in the roof. Shoppers were offered a wide variety of merchandise, food, clothing, housewares, hardware, tools and medicine. Goods were arranged in department store style. It was estimated the value of the merchandise was in excess of $70,000.
Patrons came from the mining camps, sheep and cattle ranches and the communities of Rush and Vernon Valley. Meals and lodging for travelers were provided. Their livestock was also cared for in sheds and corrals located west of the present highway. Wild grass-hay was cut in nearby meadows. It was sold to miners in Stockton, Ophir and Mercur. The coming of the railroad through Rush Valley made supplies and travel more accessible, thus ending much of the need for a store in the area. William Ajax died in 1899, his family operated the store until 1914 when they liquidated the merchandise.
The building was abandoned, and later it was burned, (perhaps railroad transients camping at the building). All that remains are the mounds of dirt just east of the monument.
This illustration depicts the living quarters where meals and lodging were provided. A portion of the underground store was under this building.
See other historic markers in the series on this page for SUP Markers.
Lookout Point
08 Friday Aug 2014
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historic, Rush Valley, Stockton, SUP, Tooele, Tooele County, utah
LOOKOUT POINT
Look north, see trees that mark site of TOD PARK, which was home for civilian employees of Army Depot (1943-1960). Look northwest, see the 10,000 acres of Tooele Army Depot ammunition storage, warehouses, mainenance shops and administration buildings. Look west, see the water mark on South Mountain made by Old Lake Bonneville at the 5200 foot level. Look south, see the geologic wonder of Stockton Bar which was created by wave action of Old Lake Bonneville. Look down west, see the trees that mark the site of the Ghost Town of Bauer (private property), the Honerine Tunnel adit, and the terminix of the old Utah Nevada Western Railroad (1885-1905). Look east in gully, see Soldier Bridge on old road built by Steptoe’s Army in 1854. Look northeast, see bench across Silcox Canyon which was created by an earthquake that happened before the last Ice Age. Glaciers cut through the bench and created a wide flat bottom canyon.
See other historic markers in the series on this page for SUP Markers.
Stockton, Utah
08 Friday Aug 2014
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historic, Rush Valley, Stockton, Tooele, Tooele County, utah
Stockton has a lot of “firsts,” it was the hone of the First Electric Light in the State, the First Smelter Center in the West, and the First Mining Camp in the State, first town in the Utah Territories to have its streets surveyed and named and the first town to get a telephone.
Related:
Steptoe’s Military Camp, Godbe’s Smelter
08 Friday Aug 2014
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historic, Rush Valley, Stockton, SUP, Tooele, Tooele County, utah
STEPTOE’S MILITARY CAMP GODBE’S CHICAGO SMELTER
(At spring 700 feet S.W.)
A detachment of the U.S. Army, the first to enter the Rocky Mountain Region, consisting of two companies of artillery, 85 dragoons, 130 teamsters, herders and hostlers from Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, under command of Col. E.J. Steptoe, reached this point September 2, 1854. They erected quarters, stables and corrals, cut 200 cords of wood and stored 200 tons of hay for their 450 mules and 300 horses. The camp was located on the east shore of Lake Shambip (Rush Lake). The detachment left for Benecia, California, in early April, 1855. An Overland Stage Station was located here from 1868 to the early 1870’s. Wm. S. Godbe’s Chicago Ore smelter was erected here in 1871 and operated until about 1880. The town was known as Slagtown. The present line of the Union Pacific Railroad reached here in 1902.
See other historic markers in the series on this page for UPTLA/SUP Markers.
