Salt is an essential nutrient for human health and survival. While readily available today, access to salt would be extremely limited in an off-grid or post-disaster situation without modern conveniences.
However, there are various natural sources of salt and methods for extracting it that have been used historically and would still be viable options. This article outlines both inland and coastal options for obtaining salt through time-tested techniques requiring only basic tools and survival skills.
Natural Inland Sources
While seawater provides the most obvious salt source if living near the coast, several inland options have served as key historic salt sources for Native tribes, early settlers, and modern survivalists.
Sandy Soil
Many areas, even hundreds of miles from the ocean, contain remnants of ancient dried seabeds. These sandy soils often contain salt deposits that can be extracted.
Native Americans in the Great Plains and other regions frequently obtained salt by washing sandy soil in baskets, collecting the runoff brine, and boiling it down to produce salt crystals. Any area with beach sand or signs of ancient coastline could be a candidate for salt deposits in the soil.
Salt Springs
Inland salt springs bubble up in various regions across the US, especially around salt dome formations. Native tribes would boil down the extra-salty spring water to produce salt, much like extracting it from seawater.
Notable salt spring locations include the Great Salt Lake region in Utah, Saline Valley in California, and the oil regions of Texas and Louisiana.
Natural Salt Licks
Salt licks created by underground salt deposits seeping to the surface provide essential salt sources for wildlife.
Any location where animals are observed regularly licking the ground may indicate a salt lick, and the soil in these spots can also be leeched to produce a salt brine.
Plant Sources
The roots and leaves of some inland plants contain bioaccumulated salts that can also be extracted. Notable options include cattails, hickory trees, and coltsfoot leaves.
Coastal Salt Sources
Those living near ocean coastlines have a few more options for harvesting salt:
Seawater
The most direct salt source, seawater contains over 3% salt allowing for easy extraction through solar evaporation or boiling. A liter of seawater yields around 35 grams of salt.
Tidal Pools
Small batches of salt can be harvested manually from tidal pools as the water reaches maximum salinity before being refreshed by new tides.
Salt Marsh Plants
Plants growing in salt marshes and wetlands have high natural salt content that can be extracted from burning and boiling the plant ashes. Key options include pickleweed, saltgrass, and glasswort.
Saltworks
There is archaeological evidence in some coastal areas of prehistoric salt works built by Native tribes through modifications of tidal zones to facilitate more natural salt production. These could still be revived in a survival situation with some reconstruction.
Salt Extraction Methods
Once an inland or coastal salt source has been identified, a variety of extraction methods are available to separate the salt from the brine depending on available tools and conditions:
Solar Evaporation
The most natural extraction approach relies on solar energy to evaporate brine in shallow pools, concentrating salts into crystals that can be collected. This passive solar evaporation method was used around the world dating back to ancient times. It works best in arid, sunny climates.
Open Vessel Boiling
A more labor-intensive option is boiling down salt water or brine over a fire. While simple in concept, it requires significant fuel to evaporate large quantities of water and produce salt.
Solar Still
A solar still can distill freshwater from saltwater while also yielding salt as a byproduct through the evaporation process. Simple underground solar stills are easy to construct in survival scenarios.
Plant Ashes
Ashes from burning salt-accumulating plants, such as coltsfoot or salt marsh grasses, can create a substitute salt source. The high sodium content gets concentrated in the ashes for extraction through boiling and filtering.
Plant Roots/Leaves
Roots or leaves harvested from inland halophytes are low-tech salt sources. After collection, the plant parts are boiled and reduced into salty brine, then evaporated to collect salt crystals.
Conclusion
While no longer a scarce commodity, salt would become a critical resource for survival without modern infrastructure. Luckily, a variety of inland and coastal options exist for obtaining salt from natural sources using simple extraction methods adapted from Native tribes and early settlers.
Ancient techniques like solar evaporation, plant harvesting, and boiling brine can produce this essential nutrient even in difficult times.
Citations:
[1] https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Map-showing-rock-salt-deposits-in-the-United-States_fig1_236357266
[2] https://www.wikihow.com/Extract-Salt-from-Plants
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[4] https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/food-dining/2023/08/13/where-does-salt-come-from/70458930007/
[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Searles_Lake
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[9] https://blog.iceslicer.com/mined-vs.-evaporated-deicing-salt
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[13] https://mineralexpert.org/article/halite-salt-mineral
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[16] https://seasalt.com/salt-101/about-salt/history-of-salt
[17] https://project.geo.msu.edu/geogmich/saltminingG.html
[18] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8tOvmo6vME
[19] https://www.norfolktowneassembly.org/post/worth-its-weight-in-salt-history-of-salt-and-its-importance-in-early-america
[20] https://practicalselfreliance.com/foraging-salt-inland/
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[22] https://globalhistory.org.uk/2021/03/the-great-necessity/
[23] https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Salt-deposits-in-United-States-and-7-sites-with-sinkholes-or-collapse-features_fig1_273125732
[24] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLsjyfq3KKs
[25] https://commonplace.online/article/salt-and-deep-history-in-the-ohio-country/
