The villagers paid a fixed tax-rate of 25% on various agricultural products; including wheat, barley, olive trees/vineyards, goats and beehives, in addition to occasional revenues and a market toll; a total of 12,000 akçe.

It was situated along the slopes of a conical hill, at the top of which stood a fort, and along the ridges of two deep abutting valleys, which provided a natural defense against encroachments by neighboring Bedouin tribes.

[7] The city's defenses and isolation in a land practically controlled by Bedouin tribes also enabled its inhabitants to ignore the impositions of the Ottoman authorities without consequence.

[7] Western travelers in the early 19th century reported that the leader of the town effectively wielded the same authority as any of the provincial governors of Ottoman Syria appointed by the sultan.

Each clan was headed by its own sheikh, one or two of whom would act as the shaykh al-balad (city leader), who was based in the fort and was in charge of protecting Salt from Bedouin attack.

[7] According to the observations of Buckingham in the 1820s, roughly 100 Christians in Salt were immigrants from Nazareth who moved to the town to avoid the exactions of Jazzar Pasha, the Ottoman governor of Acre.

[12] It exported raisins, sumac leaves for the tanneries of Jerusalem, qili (a type of ash, a key ingredient of Nabulsi soap) to Nablus, and ostrich feathers supplied by the Bedouin to Damascus.

[11][13] In 1834 the townspeople and local Bedouin fought together to drive out the forces of the practically autonomous province of Egypt led by Ibrahim Pasha, the first recorded clash of the Peasants' revolt in Palestine.

[15] He led a large force of Bedouin tribesmen from the Rwala, Wuld Ali and Banu Hasan, Hauran plainsmen, Druze mountaineers and regular infantry, cavalry and artillery troops toward Salt, stopping three hours north of the city.

As a result of the influx of newcomers this period saw the rapid expansion of Salt from a simple village into a city with many architecturally elegant buildings, many built in the Nablusi style from the attractive honey-coloured local stone.

Even so, Abdullah picked the city as the capital of his emerging emirate but later changed his mind and moved his compound and entourage to Amman when he and the notables of Salt had a disagreement.

Perhaps the most beautiful is the Abu Jaber mansion, built between 1892 and 1906, which has frescoed ceilings, painted by Italian artists, and is reputed to be the finest example of a 19th-century merchant house in the region.

Salt's Archaeological & Folklore Museum displays artifacts dating back to the Chalcolithic period to the Islamic era as well as other items relating to the history of the area.

In the city of Salt and its environs, there are several Muslim shrines at the traditional tombs of the prophets Shuaib, Ayyoub, Yusha, and Jadur, the Arabic names of the biblical characters Jethro, Job, Joshua, and Gad.