Salt industry of the Kanawha Valley

The manufacture of salt became at an early date one of the most important industries in the State of West Virginia. The development of this industry increased the population in various localities and aided in the improvement of transportation. There were, as two authors have pointed out, salt springs in nearly every county of the state. However the two chief centers of this industry were in the counties of Kanawha and Mason. The remaining salt wells were at Bulltown in Braxton County, on New River in Mercer County, on the Monongahela River in Harrison County, and at the mouth of Otter Creek on Elk River