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.
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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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