Palestine Salt Works C. S. A.

Located 6.5 miles southwest. During the Civil War this salt works was assigned to produce salt for the Confederacy at a fixed price of eight dollars for a hundred-pound sack. Private customers from East Texas, Arkansas, and Louisiana often paid twenty dollars for a sack. Producing salt was slow, tedious work. Salt water was taken from wells spread over a distance of three-fourths of a mile. A pump operated by a slave was placed in each well. Gum logs, hollowed out and joined together formed a pipeline from the wells to large cast iron boiling kettles which were kept fired. Heated water was then transferred to smaller kettles for quick evaporation.

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(Back Palestine Salt Works).