One third of the State of Illinois revenue came from the salt industry coming from African American slaves working on the Saline River in 1818.

The North Fork of the Saline River is 33.7 miles (54.2 km) long[3] and joins the main stem east of Equality, having risen in central Hamilton County southeast of McLeansboro.

Causes of pollution include inorganics, nutrients, siltation, organic enrichment (low dissolved oxygen) and other habitat alterations attributed to agricultural runoff, hydrologic/habitat modification and resource extraction.

The North and Middle forks of the Saline River system have a degraded Indiana crayfish population due to threats to water quality from pollution, coal mining, oil extraction, siltation, stream channelization.

The watershed covers land within Hamilton, White, Franklin, Williamson, Gallatin, Johnson, Pope, Hardin, and Saline Counties.

The population of the watershed is mostly rural, but there are many small cities and villages found throughout the area then passes through the eastern section of the Shawnee National Forest.

The cities of Equality and Harrisburg, Illinois were built on sandstone bluffs overlooking the Saline River Middle Fork Valley.