Double Mountain Salt Works (on Brazos River)

Salt is the oldest and most continuously produced commercial mineral in Texas, the Handbook of Texas says, and the Civil War made it precious. The Confederate government ran the Richardson salt works at Grand Saline, producing 500 pounds a day. At Palestine, James L. McMeans, Sr., sold salt to the Confederacy at a fixed eight dollars a sack, while buyers from East Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas sometimes paid as much as $20 per hundred pounds. The state took over La Sal del Rey in 1862, and Union troops captured it in 1863.

What the plaque says

On Indian-infested frontier 125 miles beyond Fort Belknap and outer settlements. Northernmost business in Confederate Texas. Established at great risk, to obtain salt, scarce during Civil War and vitally needed to cure meat, season food, cure hides for leather, feed work horses, army draft mules and cavalry horses. Texas Legislature appropriated funds for the explorations on the Brazos by a civil engineer. Double Mountain spring water proved to be 98% salt, a nearby lake 45%. Reduction of brine was under control of Texas Military Board. Troops guarded the work. (1965)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Spur-Dickens County Museum — 23 mi
  Dickens County's museum on the main block of Spur, a town born on November 1, 1909, when the first train reached the land a New York syndicate was selling off from the Spur Ranch.

More markers nearby

• Kent County — steps away
• Putoff Canyon — 3.1 mi
• Peacock — 11 mi
• County Named for Confederate Hero General "Stonewall" Jackson 1824-1863 — 21 mi