Texas Salt Flats - Hudspeth County, TX, USA
Posted by: 
Raven
N 31° 45.252 W 104° 59.417
13R E 500920 N 3513191
The Texas salt flats were first cultivated by Native Americans, then by Spanish colonists, and ultimately by Texas Pioneers up until the early 20th century.
Waymark Code: WMTBR7
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 10/29/2016
Views: 5
Located just west of the Guadalupe Mountains and easily reachable while driving on US Hwy 62/180 -- roughly midway between El Paso, TX and Carlsbad, NM -- lies the Texas Salt Flats: a remnant of an ancient, shallow lake that once occupied this area during the Pleistocene Epoch, approximately 1.8 million years ago.
The area is approximately 60 miles long and 10 miles wide; at the end of the last ice age, approximately 10,000 years ago, the lake dried up as the climate became more arid. The salt deposits left behind would later become a known as the Texas Salt Flats and would be a precious resource for the people of the area.
Salt was considered sacred to local Native American tribes, and as such they were the first to both use and appreciate the salt deposits left in this area. In 1692, a Spanish expedition from New Spain (Mexico) in search for salt helped pave the way for future commercial exploitation: for the next one hundred ninety years, the inhabitants of the El Paso region depended on salt from these Salt Flats. After the American-Mexican War, the 5,000 Mexicans who chose to live in the El Paso valley region would supplement their farming income by enduring the heat and threat of Apache attack to collect salt. They would travel as far south as Chihuahua to load their wagons with this precious resource. The El Paso Valley communities would make a 70 mile, two day journey to the salt beds and then transport the mineral by mule drawn wagons back to Chihuahua and Sonora, where it was important trade item. The salt was also sometimes used in Chihuahua for the smelting of silver.
Prior to 1848, the salt beds, under Spanish law, were common land not owned by any one individual. After 1848, under American law, these were unclaimed lands, available to anyone who filed there. The Mexicans, believing that everybody had the right to the salt, never thought to file claims to the salt beds in the name of any one individual or group. This dichotomy of laws ultimately resulted in the so-called 1860's "Salt Wars", where Mexican fought to retain their rights to collect salt as they wished (but ultimately lost those rights).
Salt is still no longer being collected today, but mining remnants can be still found in sporadic areas within the overall region.
Kind: Salt Evaporation Pond
Is the place still active?: no
|
Visit Instructions:
To log your visit, please describe your experience while accessing the place and upload at least an original picture taken on the location. Any additional information you may be able to gather about the place will be highly appreciated.