Name: Grand Saline, Texas
Address: Grand Saline, TX

A Mile-Tall Column of an Ancient Vanished Sea RoadyGoat

The salt under Grand Saline isn't a flat layer. It's a column, a dome that rises like a frozen plume from deep underground. It started as the Louann Salt, the dried-out remnant of an entire sea that evaporated here during the Jurassic, roughly a hundred and seventy million years ago. Buried under heavier rock, salt behaves strangely. It actually flows, slower than honey but unstoppable, and over eons it squeezed upward into a towering plug of nearly pure rock salt more than a mile deep. The top is just a couple hundred feet down. There's so much of it that geologists estimate the deposit could supply salt for thousands of years at current rates. You are standing on the ghost of an ocean that dried up before the dinosaurs were done.

The Only Rock You're Allowed to Eat RoadyGoat

Look down. Somewhere under Grand Saline is the only rock human beings actually eat. Table salt is the mineral halite, and in its raw form it really is rock, mined in solid chunks just like coal or marble. But unlike every other rock on Earth, you put this one in your body on purpose, every single day. You have to. The sodium and chloride in salt run your nervous system, fire your muscles, and keep the fluid balance in every cell. Sodium and potassium act like a tiny chemical battery that powers every nerve signal and heartbeat you have. Too little, and you get dizzy, confused, even seizures. So while we say 'don't eat rocks,' there's exactly one exception, and a whole town is built on top of it.

The Town Named for the Mountain of Salt Beneath It RoadyGoat

900

Here's a town that's exactly what it says on the label. Grand Saline means 'great salt marsh' in French, and it sits on top of one of the largest, purest salt deposits in North America. Caddo people were boiling salt from these brine springs as far back as nine hundred A.D., long before any town existed. Early settlers called the spot Jordan's Saline, but when the Texas and Pacific Railway laid track through in 1873, the new depot was christened Grand Saline, and the name stuck to the whole town. Morton Salt bought up the local salt works around 1920 and sank a deep mine into the dome by 1931. Nearly a century later, they're still digging the same salt. The name isn't a metaphor. It's a geology report.

Post, Wiley Hardeman

1931

Wiley Hardeman Post, aviator, fourth son of William Francis and Mae (Quinlan) Post, was born near Grand Saline in Van Zandt County, Texas, on November 22, 1898. Before his death in a plane crash in 1935, Post became one of the best-known fliers in the world, mainly because of a flight around the world with navigator Harold Gatty in 1931 and a similar solo flight in 1933. In addition, he was known for his pioneer work in high altitude flight, particularly his role in developing an early pressure suit. His achievements in early aviation, more than two decades before the establishment of a United States space program, earned him a reputation as a pioneer in space flight. The airplane in which he made such contributions is today displayed at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., along with his pressure suit. Born a few years before the advent of manned flight, Post spent his early years in northeast Texas before his farm family moved west and settled near Abilene in Taylor County in 1902. Around 1907 the family moved to southwestern Oklahoma. Although Post lived outside the state the rest of his life, he traveled and worked in Texas while in the employ of Oklahoma oilmen and later married a Texas woman. Post had little interest in farm work or school. He received an elementary education and later took a seven-month course at the Sweeney Auto School in Kansas City, Missouri. He saw his first airplane at a county fair near Lawton, Oklahoma, in 1913 and quickly determined that he wanted to fly. He later turned to oilfield work in Oklahoma and began to dabble in "barnstorming" soon after the end of World War I , first as a parachute-jumper and later, after a few lessons, as a pilot. Thus began a career that would later carry him into the annals of aviation history. Eager to acquire his own airplane, Post returned to oilfield work to earn the necessary funds, but he was injured while working near Seminole, Oklahoma, on October 1, 1926. He lost his left eye in the accident and later received about $1,700 in workman's compensation. He continued to barnstorm in a plane bought with the proceeds, and, while on a tour of Texas, met Mae Laine of Sweetwater. They eloped in his plane on June 27, 1927, and were married in Oklahoma. No children resulted from this marriage. Sometime after his marriage, Post wrecked his plane and was unable to afford repairs. Now in need of steady employment, Post became a private pilot for oilmen Powell Briscoe and F. C. Hall, flying an open-cockpit Travel-Air biplane. He later acquired a pilot's license (number 3259) from the Aeronautics Branch of the United States Department of Commerce after flying a probationary period of about 700 hours. His physical handicap thus proved no barrier. Hall later gained an interest in the colorful world of aviation so aptly portrayed by Lindbergh's famous flight to Paris in 1927. In 1928 Hall acquired a Lockheed Vega aircraft, which he named after his daughter, Winnie Mae. In 1930 Hall bought a new Lockheed Vega also named Winnie Mae . It was this plane, made of plywood and designated 105W, that later made Post famous. He would fly it around the world twice and later into the stratosphere. Post's first venture into high visibility aviation came in 1930 when he won the air derby between Los Angeles and Chicago, a special event of the 1930 National Air Races. After consulting with Harold Gatty about a flight plan, he completed the flight in a little more than nine hours, achieving an average speed of nearly 200 miles per hour. The feat earned Post $7,500 and national recognition. His next flight would bring even more accolades. This time he hoped to complete a flight around the world-a distance of more than 15,000 miles in the northern latitudes in which he chose to travel. The route took Post, accompanied again by Gatty, from New York to Newfoundland, England, and Germany, and then across Russia to Alaska (via Siberia) and back to New York City. They departed on

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Grand Saline, TX

1873

Grand Saline is on U.S. Highway 80 and State Highway 110, fifteen miles northeast of Canton in northeastern Van Zandt County. It is known, because of its extensive salt mines, as the "salt capital of Texas." The town was called Jordan's Saline until the arrival of the Texas and Pacific Railway on its route from Marshall to Dallas in 1873. Landowner Samuel Q. Richardson donated fifty acres for the townsite and constructed a general store facing the train tracks. The new railroad depot, built by chief engineer Grenville M. Dodge, was called Grand Saline, and the new commercial center subsequently expanded to include what had been Jordan's Saline. A local post office opened in 1874. Dodge located and divided the townsite into lots and blocks, constructed the Lone Star Salt Company, and on May 9, 1876, turned over all rights to the Texas and Pacific. After the Civil War Richardson drilled a local salt well to 350 feet. In 1875 the Richardson Salt Works was leased to a St. Louis company organized by G. M. Overlease. In 1890 an Indiana firm known as the Grand Saline Salt Company and later as Morton Salt Company drilled further at the site and began mining. Under the management of English engineer Andrew Wilderspin, improved methods were introduced, and in 1891 Byron Parsons organized the Lone Star Salt Company as the area's first steam-powered salt plant. Early Grand Saline businesses included T. B. Meeks's general store, a saloon, and a restaurant. Meeks, a teacher, promoted the Texas Short Line Railroad, which completed its Grand Saline to Alba line by 1900 to bring coal to the salt works and carry salt to North Texas. Grand Saline was first incorporated on December 16, 1895, but was disincorporated by an election on August 12, 1898, called at Meeks's request, and was not reincorporated until July 6, 1900. The area's first school, taught by James J. Kuykendall, was established in 1849 on Saline Creek five miles south of the city; the Grand Saline school, in existence by 1890, reached an enrollment of 378 in 1903. A Grange was established by 1876, and by 1892 the town had six groceries, three dry goods stores, three hotels, and sixty-five houses. The Grand Saline Rustler , started by Sim Florence and first published by J. B. Spinks around 1891, was followed by the Grand Saline Sun in 1894. Poultry, timber, and dairy goods supplemented cotton production, and a cotton gin built in 1890 ended the town's reliance on Mineola and Canton. By 1911 Grande Saline had a population of 2,500, two banks, two weekly newspapers, a lumberyard, an ice plant, two gins, one school, and five churches. Fires in 1917 and 1919 damaged local businesses. Morton Salt acquired all the local salt companies in 1920, sank the Kleer Salt Mine into the area's salt dome by 1931 to produce up to 500 tons of salt daily, and became the sole salt-mine operator in the county, employing 950 by 1945. The discovery of the Van oilfield in 1929 brought twelve petroleum-supply companies and five lumberyards to the community, and a local well was discovered in 1963. The population was 1,799 in 1930 but declined during the Great Depression . Local sewing rooms made garments for the poor in 1937. The population declined after the Morton Salt strike in 1943 led to formation of the Grand Saline Industrial Foundation in 1953 to attract new industry to the area. The Southwestern Mobile Home Company responded, and the town developed clothing manufacturing, meat packing, and sulfur-processing firms and produced sweet potatoes, truck crops, and livestock. Early actress Louise Fazenda, wife of Warner Brothers' Hal Wallis, once lived in the Lone Star Hotel in Grand Saline. Between 1976 and 1978 the United States government considered filling the local salt mines with crude oil from Saudi Arabia or Nigeria but did not take action. In 1982 Morton Salt produced 400,000 tons of salt from its mines. In 1990 Grand Saline had a population of 3,402, shipped fruits and vegetables, and celebrated

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Richardson, Samuel Q.

1848

Samuel Q. Richardson, Van Zandt County saltmaker and county judge, the son of S. Q. and Mary (Harrison) Richardson, was born in Frankfort, Kentucky, in 1828. He was raised in Bourbon County, Kentucky, and Van Buren County, Iowa, after which he began farming. He moved to Texas in 1848 and settled in Rusk County, where he established a mill. He served as Rusk County deputy sheriff in 1851 and 1852, engaged in freighting in East Texas, and was briefly a clerk in Shreveport, Louisiana. In 1853 he established a mill at Henderson and in 1856 a steam sawmill at Tyler. In 1859 Richardson moved to Van Zandt County, where he bought 4,000 acres of land at Saline Prairie, including the salt-manufacturing operations of Frederick J. Hamm, and engaged in saltmaking. During the Civil War Richardson enlisted in Company I of the Twenty-second Infantry, served in Louisiana and Texas, and spent some time in the North. His wife ran the saltworks in his absence, and for a time it was used by federal forces. After the war Richardson returned to Van Zandt County, where he was appointed chief justice and resumed salt production. He produced as much as 200 to 300 bags a day but in 1875 leased his salt works to a St. Louis company organized by G. M. Overlease. Richardson moved to Dallas in 1878, bought fifteen acres on the Houston and Texas Central Railroad for an ice plant, and operated it for several years. He also laid out Richardson's Addition, which became part of the city. After living for a time in Dallas, he returned to Grand Saline, where he established the first deep well to pierce the rock-salt bed and established a salt plant on the Texas and Pacific Railroad that he operated until his death. In 1892 Richardson installed steam lines to increase salt production to 600 barrels a day. His plant was across the railroad tracks from the site of the present southeast corner of Grand Saline. In 1860 Richardson married Mary J. Casen, with whom he had four children, and in 1896 he married Willie Whitworth, with whom he had one child. He died in 1900 and was buried in Dallas. After his death, the salt plant passed through several changes of management and ownership. Heirs of the estate sold their holdings in 1904 to the Grand Saline Salt Company, organized by Emerson Carey and J. Kirk, and in 1920 it became part of the Morton Salt Company.

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Grand Saline, C.S.A.

1861

The large saline deposit was a major source of salt in Texas during the Civil War. Salt was first obtained by the Indians. In 1854, works were built. Sam Richardson, the owner in 1861, went to war and left his wife to run the works until the Confederate government took over production. Because salt was considered a strategic industry, salt workers were exempt from army service for a time and many wells were sunk to obtain the more than 10,000 pounds of salt made daily for the civilians and army west of the Mississippi River. Mule-powered pumps drew the brine from the wells. Gum logs, hollowed out and pinned together formed a pipeline to huge iron evaporating kettles. Salt was then sacked, purchased and hauled away on horseback, in wagons and oxcarts. During the Civil War, the demand for salt, the only known way to preserve meat, increased to supply the Southern army. Meat was salted, smoked and then packed in salt for the long, hot trips to army camps. Horses and mules used by cavalry, artillery, and quartermaster units required the vital mineral, too. Salt also preserved hides for making shoes, harnesses and saddles. When the Confederate government levied a meat tithe on farmers, the demand for salt increased and often cattle and cotton were exchanged for salt which itself became a medium of exchange. When salt became scarce, women dug up smokehouse floors to extract salt from the soil. Other Civil War salt works were operated along the coast and in other East, Central and West Texas counties. Erected by the State of Texas 1964

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Poletown and Rhodesburg

1863

The first documented mention of a settlement at this site, just west of Jordan's Saline, comes from an 1863 letter by Alice Merrifield. The community was mostly made up of people who fled west to escape the southern battle sites of the Civil War. The small community became known as Poletown, perhaps because of the poles used for home construction, and was one of many such communities formed on unattended land while property owners were away at war. After the war, Poletown residents who were not property owners made arrangements to purchase land or become tenant farmers. A voting precinct was formed in 1873, a school had been established for local children by 1889 and land was deeded to the community for the already existing cemetery in 1900. In 1895, Tom Alexander honored populist Jacob C. Rhodes by deisgnating a section of his land at Poletown as the new town of Rhodesburg (or Rhodesburgh). The city gained national prominence when Rhodes and his followers changed allegiance to the Socialist Party. Rhodes organized the Socialist Party of Texas, and the first Socialist state convention was held later that year. For over a decade, Socialist Party encampments were held just west of Grand Saline. The Socialist Party of Texas reached its peak of popularity by the time of the 1912 presidential election, and received thirty percent support in Van Zandt County. While the National Socialist Party shifted away from tenant farmers' issues and toward labor union issues, the Texas party, including Van Zandt County, began to fracture and weaken while the Democratic Party strengthened. Soon, most of Rhodesburg's political leaders left the area, while many descendants of the earlier settlers remain. (2010)

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Jordans Saline

1844

John Jordan established the community of Jordans Saline when he settled here in 1844 and joined with A.T. McGee in organizing a salt company. When Van Zandt County formed in 1848, Jordans Saline was named temporary county seat. Although the county seat moved in 1850, Jordans Saline continued to grow and by 1860, it had a thriving salt industry and other businesses. In 1873, the Texas & Pacific Railroad extended from Marshall to Dallas, passing one mile north of the town. S.Q. Richardson, a successful salt maker, donated land for a townsite on the railroad, and Grand Saline was laid out. Residents moved, establishing the community of Grand Saline and soon Jordans Saline ceased to exist. (2008)

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Grand Saline, Texas

Music in Grand Saline

Songs About Grand Saline

Artists From Grand Saline

Rivers & Roads in Song near Grand Saline

History of Grand Saline

A Mile-Tall Column of an Ancient Vanished Sea RoadyGoat

The Only Rock You're Allowed to Eat RoadyGoat

The Town Named for the Mountain of Salt Beneath It RoadyGoat

Post, Wiley Hardeman

Grand Saline, TX

Richardson, Samuel Q.

Grand Saline, C.S.A.

Poletown and Rhodesburg

Jordans Saline

Things to Do in Grand Saline

Everything Near Grand Saline