Life On Mars

The History of SF Bay Saltworks

As long as people have lived in the Bay Area, they have harvested its salt. Native Ohlone gathered salt along the Bay's edge, collecting it from natural salt pans (salt flats) by the shore. As the Spanish moved up the Pacific Coast, the padres at Mission San Jose introduced large-scale salt harvesting. Decades after the missionaries departed, the Ohlone continued to gather salt at the Bay’s edge. Their efforts inspired Capt. John Johnson, who launched the first commercial solar salt harvest from the Bay in 1854. A former sea captain and disappointed gold miner, Johnson made his fortune selling his first salt harvest for $50 a ton to the commodity-starved 49’ers.