AJO

town, Pima county, southwestern Arizona, U.S. Spaniards mined in the area in the 1750s, and the Ajo Copper Company (1854) was the first incorporated mining concern in the Arizona Territory. The mines remained dormant from about 1860 until the 1900s when a townsite was laid out and a railroad built to Gila Bend, 40 miles (64 km) north. The town's economy virtually depends on the Phelps Dodge Corporation, which operates the New Cornelia Open Pit Mine (390 acres [158 hectares]) and a smelter plant. The community, originally named Muy Vavi (Papago: Warm Water), was renamed Ajo (Spanish: Garlic), for the wild garlic found in the surrounding hills. Nearby are the Papago Indian Reservation (east), the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge (west), and the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument (south). Pop. (1990) 2,919.