On 3 November 1917, a royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to Saltdal, removing the definite form ending -en.

The official blazon is "Gules, a rowan twig Or" (Norwegian: I rødt en gull rognekvist).

The rowan twig has a tincture of Or which means it is commonly colored yellow, but if it is made out of metal, then gold is used.

They are also canting arms because the Norwegian word for rowan is rogn and the municipal centre is the village of Rognan.

During World War II, the Germans decided to lengthen the Nordland Line from Lønsdal in Saltfjellet going northwards.

This project involved prisoners of war, mostly from Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union, in building this road under extremely harsh conditions.

The workers lived in prison camps where they did not receive enough food for their hard work building the road.

A grand total of 15-18 camps with 9,500 Russian, Polish, and Yugoslavian prisoners were located in the valley.

The highest point in the municipality is the 1,755.98-metre (5,761.1 ft) tall mountain Nordre Saulo, located within Junkerdal National Park.

With mountains surrounding it in almost all directions, Saltdal is one of the driest areas in Norway, especially the upper part of the valley.

For five years in a row, 2001 to 2005, and then again in 2007 and 2008, the weather station in the upper part of the Saltdal valley recorded the least precipitation in all of continental Norway, with only 74 millimetres (2.9 in) in 2005.

Data from the first station (81 m) shows this to be the driest place in Norway (excluding Svalbard), with on average just over 200 millimetres (7.9 in) precipitation annually.

Due to the rarity of extreme cold snaps, the environment and plant hardiness resemble latitudes further south in the Nordic interior.

The European route E6 highway passes through the entire length of Saltdal, with the Nordland Line running alongside it.

The company's Rognan factory specializes in telecommunications, fibre optics and copper cables.

Especially before World War II, the boatbuilding industry employed a large percentage of Saltdal's population.