Got Salt?

Salt has long been vital to daily life and to the economies of many cultures, and salt harvesting in the Bay Area began with the Ohlone Indians. Early production included gathering salt from natural salt pannes, shallow ponds, and burning marsh plants that were then mixed with water to create a brine that was evaporated over campfires. Demand from the hide and tallow industry led John Johnson, the first salt farmer, to buy land near Eden Landing, where in 1853 he scraped up 25 tons of salt, the first commercially produced salt in the San Francisco Bay Area. Johnson received $35 per ton for that first harvest, and salt making soon became big business as many small family-operated companies sprang up and were later consolidated into larger companies. Today one remains in the Bay Area, Cargill Salt, Newark.

Hayward, California · United States