[2] It was established in 1806 by James Garrard's son Daniel (1780–1866) as a salt works, he having bought the land in 1798, but didn't actually gain the name until the Cumberland and Manchester Railroad came through there in 1917.

[11] Although rebuilt post-war, the salt works were not the major industry in the region that they had been pre-war, as competition from other saltworks elsewhere and improved transport drive down prices.

[15] The most effective measure was Daniel Garrard using 32 of his "hands" (i.e. slaves) to clear the South Fork Kentucky River of obstacles in 1818.

[15] Several calls were made by Garrard and others to further improve matters, to legislators that did not heed them, in part because of national economic depression that began in 1838.

[16] A 1835 report by the Kentucky Board of Internal Improvements stated for example:[16] One of the proprietors of the Goose Creek salt works, the most extensive establishment of the kind west of the mountains [...] informed me that, in case a certain navigation was provided, they were ready to furnish at once 500,000 bushels per annum, and could enlarge their establishment as to meet the demand [...][15]Other ideas put forward included a grand plan suggested in a 1836-01-19 report by R. P. Baker, Kentucky's first chief engineer, proposing a canal between the Ohio River and the Atlantic Ocean that would arrive at The Three Forks and proceed up the South Fork Kentucky River and Goose Creek.