148 Frank Carney 



SALT 



For a great many years, Ohio has been a renowned salt-pro- 

 ducing state. Its rank, during much of the last quarter of a cen- 

 tury, has been either third or fourth. In 1908 only two other 

 states, Michigan and New York, produced more salt. No one 

 knows just how long salt has been manufactured in Ohio. White 

 men have been boiling brine in the state for over a century. The 

 few salt licks early discovered by the first settlers were of great 

 value to them. 



Early development. Much interesting history is connected with 

 this natural resource. This history, the geological association of 

 salt deposits and the methods of working it, have been thoroughly 

 investigated by the State Geologist, and so clearly described that 

 I here quote from a recent publication of the State Survey: 



Probably the first attempt to make salt on land now forming part of 

 the state was in 1798. The locality was the old Scioto salt works on the 

 l:)anks of Salt Creek in what is now Jackson County. These salt springs 

 were well known to the buffalo and other wild animals, long before the 

 white man discovered them. Buffaloes came in herds, forming well 

 beaten paths, recognizable as late at least as 1837. Regular pilgrimages 

 to the licks were made b}^ these animals until they were driven from the 

 territory. That they were loth to abandon so favored a spot is shown by 

 the fact that the last buffalo seen native in Ohio was near these licks, 

 the date being 1802. 



From earth works near the licks it has been thought that the Mound 

 buiklers appreciated the locality as well as did the lower animals. Later 

 the spot was a favorite with the Indians; the men killed the game which 

 came for brine, while their squaws busied themselves making a little 

 salt. Wells were not dug, the Indians simply taking the brackish water 

 from the creek at low water stage and evaporating it. The last of their 

 old salt pans was blasted out in 1899. Pilgrimages were made to the licks 

 each summer by the Indians until about 1815. 



The date of the white man's discovery of the licks is not known, but 

 is was probabl}' early in the eighteenth century by Canadian fur traders. 

 The Virginia colonists knew of them at least as early as 1755. In 1795 

 a company of white salt boilers settled on the licks, and the camp is 

 said to have grown quite large before the close of the century. 



Officials of the federal government soon learned of the licks, and 

 promptaction was taken to prevent their falling into thehandsof parties 

 who might make a monopoly of them. Thus in 1796 Congress passed an 

 act providing for the sale of lands northwest of the Ohio River, but 

 ex])r('ssly reserved for future disposal the area containing these licks. 



