[5][6][7] The confluence of the two streams lies in Sheridan County roughly 5 miles (8 km) northwest of Grinnell, Kansas.

[8] Bourgmont was on his way to negotiate a peace treaty with the Padouca whose "Grand Village" was then located on the Saline's banks.

[8] The Pawnee and the Kanza, who used the area as hunting and trapping ground, claimed land along the Saline until the 1850s when American settlers began to arrive.

The Kansas–Nebraska Act of 1854 established Kansas Territory, which included the entire length of the Saline River.

[8] In 1964, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dammed the river in eastern Russell County for flood control, creating Wilson Lake.