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Today, there seems to be too much salt in our diets. But salt on the frontier was a scarce yet vital resource. Blueridgetales.com: “Life (then) hinged on one thing: salt. It preserved food, kept animals and humans healthy, and was used as trade currency…” Salt in Washington County in the 1790s was $8 ($200 today!) per bushel if bought in the east. Finding local sources was imperative.
Most salt deposits had been discovered centuries ago by animals and indigenous people. Animals were attracted to "salt licks"; buffalo (yes, they roamed the Midwest) wore paths to the salt which were used as roads early on. Those locations became good hunting grounds for natives. The Ohio Company learned from Indians about salt near Jackson, Ohio called the “Scioto Salines.” The exact location was unknown. There was a “warm” (tempers flaring) debate in February 1790 among Ohio Company leaders about managing that salt deposit. Griffin Greene said salt discoveries should be finders keepers. Thomas Walcutt, visiting from Boston, objected strenuously to allowing any individual control a salt deposit. Walcutt was quite vocal for a visitor. We don't know what he said, but he apologized to Return Jonathan Meigs and Ebenezer Battelle for “my conduct at the meeting,” though both said his opinions were “justifiable and right.” The high emotion was for naught. The salt deposit - when located 4 years later - was on land the Ohio Company did not own.
Settlers found a salt deposit on Salt Creek in Muskingum County. “Shrewd Yankees of Marietta” and others formed a joint stock company in 1795 to produce salt there. 50 area people invested $1.50 each to raise $75. They purchased 24 large kettles from Pittsburgh. Salt was made by boiling away the salt water until salt crystals remained. It was a 24/7 operation, staffed by volunteers. Ephraim Cutler periodically worked the kettles. He recalled that one day two French travelers stopped and stayed overnight. They became “quite loquacious” and sang French songs with another Frenchman from Gallipolis. One of the visitors was exiled Prince Louis Philippe of France. Decades later King Louis Philippe I would ask American visitors if they knew of Marietta, Ohio, where he had stopped later.
Silas Thorla owned land near known salt deposits just east of Caldwell in Noble County. He learned newer methods of salt recovery from the Kanawha River salt works. They drilled a well in 1814 down 200 ft and reached brine which was boiled to recover the salt. The well also produced a curious dark, oozing liquid which often fouled the salt. It was oil, and natural gas was present too. Oil and gas! Exciting discovery? Nope; it was a nuisance then.
The oil was discarded or bottled as a cure-all, "Seneca Oil." Workers learned to be careful. The gas periodically released pent up pressure as a saltwater geyser, like Old Faithful. Discarded oil floated on the water of Duck Creek. Some curious boys set the oil on fire; soon a half mile of creek was a blazing inferno. One night, Robert Caldwell was supervising the kettles. He used flaming embers for light. Accumulated gas ignited. The explosion shook houses for miles around. A second well was drilled in 1816 and survives today as the Thorla - McKee Well located east of Caldwell. Salt production continued for 20 years. It claims to be the oldest oil well in America, still producing minute amounts of oil.
To early pioneers, salt meant survival. They learned to be creative and work together in producing salt. Salt recovery techniques later became useful in drilling for oil. The Bible encourages us to be "salt of the earth"- good examples to others. Stay salty, my friends.