Salt Reservations

Leaders knew that in frontier lands such as the Ohio Country, salt was a precious and scarce commodity, especially for preserving meat in an era before refrigeration.

The second relevant congressional action in 1796 was the creation of the United States Military District in eastern Ohio.

The Second proposition of Section 7 of the act states "That the six mile reservation, including the salt springs, commonly called the Scioto salt springs, the salt springs near the Muskingum river, and in the military tract, with the sections of land which include the same, shall be granted to the said state for the use of the people thereof, the same to be used under such terms and conditions and regulations as the legislature of the said state shall direct: Provided, the said legislature shall never sell nor lease the same for a longer period than ten years."

[2] The reservation was in the survey called the Congress Lands East of Scioto River in present-day Jackson County, Ohio.

39°02′53″N 82°38′02″W / 39.04806°N 82.63389°W / 39.04806; -82.63389 (Scioto Salt Reservation) By 1816, a settlement had grown around the spring, and Ohio wished to form Jackson county.

They petitioned Congress to allow sale of a section of salt land to pay for a county courthouse.

The Act of April 16, 1816[6] allowed this action, and section 29 of township 7 of range 18 was sold for $7,169.00 and the town of Jackson was erected there.