Old Salt Lake facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Old Salt Lake |
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Old Salt Lake works in 1898
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| Location | E corner Harbor Dr and Yacht Club Way in Redondo Beach, Ca |
| Built | 1856 |
| Designated | Sept. 6, 1941 |
| Reference no. | 373 |
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The Old Salt Lake, also called Lake Salinas, was a special place in coastal Southern California. People used to collect sea salt there to trade or sell. Old Salt Lake was a large pond, about 600 feet wide and 1800 feet long. It got its water from a natural spring. The lake was about 600 feet from what is now the Redondo Beach seashore. It was about 10 feet above sea level.
History of the Old Salt Lake
Long ago, the Chowigna band of the Tongva people used Old Salt Lake. They dug up salt from the bottom of the lake. In the 1700s, the Chowigna traded this salt with other tribes. Their village by the lake was called Onoova-nga, which means "Place of Salt."
Spanish Missionaries also collected salt from the lake during the time of the Spanish missions in California.
On December 15, 1854, Manuel Dominguez sold 215 acres of the Rancho San Pedro land for $500. He sold it to Henry Allanson and William Johnson, who were businessmen from Los Angeles. The Chowigna people living near the lake had to move to missions after this land sale.
Johnson and Allanson built a special evaporation pond. They also built a boiling house with 48 wood-fired kettles. This helped them make salt much faster than just letting the water evaporate. Johnson and Allanson sent a lot of the salt they made. They transported it 10 miles overland to the Port of San Pedro.
Johnson and Allanson closed their salt works in 1862. They sold it to another businessman, Frances Mellus. Frances Mellus ran the Pacific Salt Works at the site until 1881.
A U.S. government geologist wrote about the lake in 1890. He noted it was a saltwater lake near the ocean. However, it did not get its water from the sea. He also mentioned that many wells around the pond provided good, fresh drinking water.
In 1901, the fire boilers were removed. The buildings were left empty for almost 20 years. By 1924, all the structures at the site were taken down.
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Southern California Edison built the South Bay power plant on the site in 1948. In 1998, AES Corporation bought the power plant.
Historic Markers at the Site
The site of Old Salt Lake was named a California Historic Landmark (No. 373) on September 6, 1941.
In 1955, a granite marker was placed at the site. It is on Harbor Drive near the AES electricity power plant.
- The State Marker at the site says:
NO. 373 OLD SALT LAKE - The Indians of this area obtained salt from this lake. Sometime in the 1850s, Johnson and Allanson erected the necessary works to manufacture salt by artificial as well as solar evaporation. The salt yield for 1879 was 450 tons.
- A marker put up in 1955 by the Tierra del Rey Parlor of the Native Daughters of the Golden West says:
This marker locates the site near which the Indians and early California settlers came to obtain their salt, which at many times was more valuable than gold.
Additional images
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Diseño of Rancho Sausal Redondo showing Salinas along shoreline in bottom left
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Salt Works, Redondo, Los Angeles County c. 1902
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Salt Works, Redondo, Los Angeles County c. 1902
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"T. J. Hoyt and Dorothy Evans look towards the salt Lake tract, proposed pleasure harbor site, Redondo Beach, 1935" (Los Angeles Times via UCLA Digital Collections)
