In this Book
- The Antebellum Kanawha Salt Business and Western Markets
- Book
- 2016
- Published by: West Virginia University Press
summary
In the early nineteenth century, a ten-mile stretch along the Kanawha River in western Virginia became the largest salt-producing area in the antebellum United States. Production of this basic commodity stimulated settlement, the livestock industry, and the rise of agricultural processing, especially pork packing, in the American West. Salt extraction was then and is now a fundamental industry.
In his illuminating study, now available with a new preface by the author, John Stealey examines the legal basis of this industry, its labor practices, and its marketing and distribution patterns. Through technological innovation, salt producers harnessed coal and steam as well as men and animals, constructed a novel evaporative system, and invented drilling tools later employed in oil and natural gas exploration. Thus in many ways the salt industry was the precursor of the American extractive and chemical industries. Stealey's informative study is an important contribution to American economic, business, labor, and legal history.
In his illuminating study, now available with a new preface by the author, John Stealey examines the legal basis of this industry, its labor practices, and its marketing and distribution patterns. Through technological innovation, salt producers harnessed coal and steam as well as men and animals, constructed a novel evaporative system, and invented drilling tools later employed in oil and natural gas exploration. Thus in many ways the salt industry was the precursor of the American extractive and chemical industries. Stealey's informative study is an important contribution to American economic, business, labor, and legal history.
Table of Contents
Download Full Book
- Title Page, Copyright Page
- pp. i-vi
- Introduction to the New Edition
- pp. ix-xx
- Acknowledgments
- pp. xxi-xxiv
- 1. Kanawha Salt’s Savor
- pp. 1-7
- 9. The Kanawha Producers and the Salt Tariff
- pp. 103-118
- 11. Slavery in the Kanawha Salt Industry
- pp. 133-157
- 14. Kanawha Salt Loses Its Economic Savor
- pp. 184-190
- 15. Perspectives
- pp. 191-198
- Works Cited
- pp. 239-252
Additional Information
ISBN
9781943665310
Related ISBN(s)
9781943665297, 9781943665303
MARC Record
OCLC
957345217
Pages
285
Launched on MUSE
2016-08-27
Language
English
Open Access
No