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Writer's pictureDan Spencer

The Peculiar Truth about Sleepy John Sears & America’s White Gold

  • For centuries, salt was considered white gold.

  • Long before refrigeration, salt had been used to preserve pork, beef, poultry, and fish. It was used to pickle all sorts of foods, from pickled cucumbers and sauerkraut to hard-boiled eggs.

  • Long before antibiotics, salt was poured on open wounds. It’s naturally antibacterial and antiseptic.

  • In some ancient civilizations, it was used as currency. The phrase ‘worth one’s salt’ means to be deserving of the salt one earns as payment.

  • 1776: America’s original thirteen colonies had always imported salt, just like they imported other commodities. No one in the colonies produced it.

  • During America’s Revolutionary War, the British blockaded the Colonists’ salt imports, including shipments smuggled in from the Caribbean. Then the Brits strategically took command of the Continental Army’s salt reserves.

  • General George Washington wrote to the Continental Congress about the urgent need to save their supplies.

  • New Jersey residents were tasked with making salt, but creating the precious white gold in bulk was difficult - 400 gallons of evaporated ocean water created roughly one bushel of salt. Boiling sea water was a common task in most households, but the resulting amounts of salt were far from sufficient. Americans were encouraged to find a solution.

  • A New England seafaring man named John Sears had a habit of daytime napping and a head-in-the-clouds demeanor. That provided him an unflattering nickname. But Sleepy John Sears created the young nation’s first salt works.

  • It was located in Dennis, Massachusetts, in the middle of the Cape Cod peninsula.

  • Sears built a massive wooden barrel filled with harbor seawater that was then transferred into evaporation pans. The first barrel leaked and caused much skepticism. But Sears made repairs and kept at it.

  • By 1777 his output created over 30 bushels of salt. Not enough, but that was just the beginning.

  • Bilge pumps were used to fill the barrels, but then Sears switched to filling them via windmills. Production increased.

  • That amount still was barely enough to sate the country’s needs, but eventually the war was won and imports returned to make up for demand.

  • Sleepy John Sears’ innovations made him rich.

  • Other Cape Cod residents saw how profitable Sears’ venture had become and copied him. Hundreds of other salt works were created.

  • By the 1850s, though, they gradually vanished as commercial refrigeration technology came along and changed everything.

  • Salt became less of a critical commodity starting in the 20th Century, and Sleepy John Sears evaporated into history.


ALSO:

  • The primary source of information for this story came from Mark Kurlansky’s book Salt: A World History. Don’t be fooled by the banal title. It’s a fascinating read, as are most of Kurlansky’s books.


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