The South Bay Salt Works is a salt factory in southern San Diego near Chula Vista, in the South Bay region of San Diego County, California.

In 1902 it was purchased and renamed Western Salt Company, and later had narrow-gauge rail installed.

The land was purchased by the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority in 1999 and transferred to the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.

Initially the operation began as the La Punta Salt Company;[1] founded by the Shaffer Brothers.

[3][6] Around the turn of the 20th century, the salt works were the only industrial employment in the Chula Vista area, other than produce packing plants.

[10] In 1918, reconstruction began due to damage caused during the 1916 flooding, reaching completion in the 1950s.

[4] In the 1920s another company, California Chemical Corporation, extracted bromine from the waters of the salt ponds.

[3] In 2005, right of way of the former Coronado Belt Line in the salt pools, were designated historic by the city of San Diego and later converted into a bike path as part of the "Bayshore Bikeway".

[21] Water evaporated at the salt works come from the Pacific Ocean, not San Diego Bay.

[28] It is planned that when the lease on the land ends, the buildings will be re-purposed similar to those on Cannery Row.

[28] One proposed use is to convert the salt works into an interpretive center for the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.

[33] Due to the presence of these threatened and endangered species at the salt ponds, they were included in Port of San Diego's natural resources management plan, which was completed in September 2013.