By Mary K. Hamner
Journal Correspondent

Colonel Alfred Pickney King and his family came to Bienville Parish from Georgia around 1840. A New Orleans journalist touring the state in 1860 listed King as one of the most prominent planters and landowners in the parish. In addition to his other land holdings, on January 15, 1851, King also purchased a portion of land containing 639 acres more or less, less one acre on said tract sold to B. H. Mathews, for $3499.20. It was described as being located in sections 34, 35, and 26 Township 15, Range 8 west.

In a 1902 geological survey of the salines of North Louisiana a complete survey of the salt springs and wells formerly worked in this area was made. The report located the site of King's well at 500 yards northwest of the main lick and near the old Sparta-Coushatta Road. About 200 yards west of King's well is a salt spring, which furnishes very weak brine, the report said.

King's farm community became known as Salt Springs. It was on the stage coach route and had a post office from 1854 to 1866 with King as Postmaster. A separate building for the post office was not maintained and King apparently received and dispatched mail for the surrounding community out of his home.

Prior to the Civil War, Colonel King owned sixteen slaves. His land was farmed in season and the 'lick' was utilized in the off season. He dug a number of wells, built a salt house, and after harvesting his crops, used the wells to produce a supply of salt for sale. His neighbors came to the licks to make salt for their own consumption.

Many wells from ten to twenty feet deep were dug. A furnace heated the cold water drawn from the wells. Water was boiled down to strong brine, then dipped up by hand and poured into a settling vat. From there it was emptied into smaller kettles and boiled down to salt. When well dry, the salt was stored in the salt house. It was frequently sold for $3 to $10 per bushel of sixty pounds.

King's salt works shared with others a period of great activity during the War Between the States. Before the War, nearly all the salt used in the middle Southern States was imported. At the outbreak of the War, this source of supply was partially cutoff by the federal blockade and salt became scarce. People came for salt from distant points of the state and as the War continued, people came from Mississippi, Alabama, and Arkansas.

At the close of the War, salt production soon stopped. Salt was produced elsewhere by improved methods and the primitive mining operation could not compete. Some families continued making their own yearly supply of salt, but finally even this ceased. Some local folklorists say that the large cooking kettles were collected in a scrap iron drive during WW II.

A visit to the site of the old salt works is a scramble through briars, weeds, and heavy timber. If you don't know what you are looking for, you won't find the site. A bowl approximately one hundred feet in diameter is encircled by low embankments. Much is left to the imagination as to the arrangement of the former operation, but old timbers almost covered by palmetto and other growth could be the remains of the salt house. Bits of charcoal and pieces of metal remain and indicate the site of the furnace and cooking vats. A small stream winding it's way through the area is labeled Salt Lick Branch on a 1902 map published in the Geological Survey of Louisiana.

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