Colorado Salt Works

{{Use American English|date=July 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=August 2023}} {{Infobox NRHP | name = Colorado Salt Works | nrhp_type = | image = | caption = | location=3858 [[U.S. Highway 285]], [[Park County, Colorado]] near [[Hartsel, Colorado]] | locmapin = Colorado | built = 1866 | builder = Charles L. Hall | added = February 2, 2001 | area = {{convert|33|acre|ha}} | refnum = 01000033<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|version=2013a}}</ref> }} The '''Colorado Salt Works''', on [[Salt Works Ranch]] in [[Park County, Colorado]] near [[Hartsel, Colorado]], is a site where [[salt springs]] flow and were used in salt harvesting in the late 1860s. The site was listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]] in 2001.<ref name=nris/>

The salt works were established in 1862, by Charles L. Hall, who bought out a small operation nearby and expanded production in new buildings in 1866. The expansion was funded by a partnership, '''Rollins, Lane and Hall''', which brought in investors [[George W. Lane (Colorado)|George W. Lane]] and [[John Quincy Adams Rollins]].<ref name=nrhpdoc/>

The Kettle House (1866) is a two-story L-shaped building with a {{convert|50|ft|m}} chimney, which held large pans of [[12 gauge sheet metal|No. 12 iron]] and [[boiler iron]], [[iron kettle]]s, and drying and storage areas.<ref name=nrhpdoc/> It was fitted out with 18 boiling kettles, each {{convert|4|ft|m}} in diameter, weighing more than {{convert|.5|ST|kg}} and costing $1,500 each, delivered.<ref name=nrhpdoc/>

The Salt Works Barn (c.1866), similar in appearance, is a second [[contributing building]] on the site.<ref name=nrhpdoc/>

It was deemed significant as<blockquote>...a rare, perhaps only, surviving example of an 1860s kettle and pan salt production facility in the United States. Salt was in high demand in that era as an element used in processing gold ores, and also for domestic and agricultural uses. Before the railroads arrived, salt had to be shipped overland by wagon from Missouri and brought prices as high as seven cents per pound in Denver and eight cents per pound in Central City. A barrel of salt sold for forty to fifty dollars and "a salt well was then was as good as a gulch mine." While other salt springs existed in the state, the Colorado Salt Works was the only site ever improved with the erection of a salt works.<ref name=nrhpdoc/></blockquote>

It has been thought to be only the second manufacturing facility established in Colorado,<ref name=nrhpdoc/> after a Denver-located cannon foundry.<ref name=encyc>{{cite web|url=https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/colorado-salt-works |title=Colorado Salt Works |date=2 December 2015 |publisher=[[Colorado Encyclopedia]] |access-date=April 19, 2021}}</ref> It produced about {{convert|50|ST|kg}} of salt per month in 1867.<ref name=nrhpdoc/> It operated, however, only until around 1870, due to cheaper salt arriving by railroads to the state, relatively high and increasing costs of operation (including because timber used as fuel ran out in the area<ref name=encyc/>), and litigation among owners.<ref name=nrhpdoc/>

The listing included two [[contributing buildings]].<ref name="nrhpdoc">{{cite web|url={{NRHP url|id=01000033}}|title=National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Colorado Salt Works / Rollins, Lane, and Hall; 5PA1478 |publisher=[[National Park Service]]|author=R. Laurie Simmons |author2=Thomas H. Simmons |date=September 1, 2000 |access-date=April 13, 2021}} With {{NRHP url|id=01000033|photos=y|title=accompanying six photos from 2000}}</ref>

The [[Salt Works Ranch]] as a whole is listed on the National Register and is a [[Colorado Centennial Ranch]].

The Kettle House's tall chimney was long a landmark in [[South Park (Park County, Colorado)|South Park]]. It fell in the 1990s, "because it had been weakened by cattle rubbing against its base."<ref name=encyc/>

==See also== *[[Open-pan salt making]] *[[Salt Museum (Liverpool, New York)|Salt Museum]], Syracuse, New York

==References== {{reflist}}

[[Category:Salt springs]] [[Category:Industrial buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Colorado]] [[Category:National Register of Historic Places in Park County, Colorado]] [[Category:Buildings and structures completed in 1866]] [[Category:Saltworks]] [[Category:Salt in the United States]]