In early America, salt was hard to get and had to be imported. As settlers moved west, they found natural salt licks to preserve food but needed more, so they started making it. In Western Virginia, salt production began around 1797 and grew quickly in the Kanawha Valley. The Ruffner brothers built the first big salt furnace in 1808 in Kanawha County, and by the War of 1812, over a million bushels were being made.

Salt was made by pumping salty water from the ground, boiling it, and collecting the salt left behind. The Kanawha saltmakers improved the process with steam engines, coal, and new drilling tools.

In the 1850s, a better salt source was found in Mason County, and new railroads made it easier to get salt from other places. This caused the Kanawha salt industry to decline. Some furnaces stayed open into the 1900s, but the area later shifted to making chemicals instead.