More than one million years ago, a large, shallow lake occupied this area, and as it dried up it left salt deposits that became an extremely important resource to the people of the El Paso Valley. Salt was considered sacred to the Apache and Tigua Indians, who used it in the tanning of animal hides and as a condiment and food preservative. Hispanic populations depended on salt to supplement their limited income from farming. In the late 1870s, the El Paso Salt War erupted as El Paso businessmen attempted to take control of the salt beds from the local Hispanic and Tigua communities. The short-lived war resulted in several deaths and injuries, loss of property, and nearly caused an armed conflict between the U.S. and Mexico. Eventually the salt flats were claimed and Hispanic communities were forced to pay for the salt they once collected for free. Today, only the wind blowing across the barren flats remains to remind us of this turbulent time in history.