Early map of the Connecticut Western Reserve area marked with the location of the salt springs, Mosquito Creek and future site of Niles.

1803 Ohio County Map.

Note that at this time, Trumbull County was marked along Lake Erie. Later, this area would be divided into several separate counties.

It was long held that Ohio had been admitted to the Union in 1803.

However, during the 150 Sesqui-Centennial celebration of 1953 it was discovered that Congress had never completed the actual congressional paperwork that finalized Ohio as the 17th state.

In 1953, Congress again admitted Ohio to the Union of States and made it retroactive to the original 1803 date.

Lewis Evans Ohio Map of 1755 shows the Salt Springs existence was known in 1755. At this time, the French controlled the area from Fort Duquesne (Pittsburgh) westward. Evans was a cartographer whose maps were used by Braddock in his 1755 attempt to take Fort Duquesne. PO1.651

Salt Springs

There were actually four separate springs on the site, all within a 200 foot radius.

The Salt Springs, a magnesia, Sulphur, and a lithia spring.

Long before the French defeat (French-Indian War) in 1763 opened the territory to the white man, generations of Indians boiled the water for salt and used the waters of the other springs for medicinal purposes.

Weathersfield Township map illustrating the location of the Salt Springs area. PO1.658

Youngstown Archeology
SALT SPRING DISCOVERED IN YOUNGSTOWN
Jefferson labels it on his map as 'Mahoning Salt Springs'. In addition, he mentions the Niles salt springs as Salt Lick Town, as it is known by current historians and the people of the time. So this map indicates that there are TWO salt springs along the Mahoning River.

Originally, Youngstown was a Native town known as Mahoning Town (not to be confused with the nearby New Castle, PA suburb of Mahoning Town).

Just as a Native town grew up around the Niles salt springs (Salt Lick Town), apparently a town also grew up around the Youngstown salt spring.

This illustration is from a painting by Joseph N. Higley, from a photograph taken by him about 1903, just before the Salt Springs were covered over by the B & O railroad fill. PO1.1493

Before 1755, when Lewis Evans marked the Salt Springs on his map of the region, red man and white man had been extracting precious salt from the famous springs. In 1796, Augustus Porter reached the Salt Springs with a survey party. He described it as a two or three acre site, with a plank vat full of water and with kettles at hand for boiling out the salt residue.

The Salt Springs were an important asset and were probably an important consideration when General Samuel Holden Parsons bought the first tract of land in the Western Reserve, which included the springs. General Holden was one of the three judges appointed by Governor St. Clair for the whole Northwest Territory which embraced the Western Reserve.

The springs were an attraction for many years. The first road in Trumbull County led to the Salt Springs, following the ancient Mahoning Indian Trail. Reuben Harmon, the first permanent settler in Weathersfield Township, bought part of the Salt Springs tract. He was the only taxpayer in 1801.

The spring at which Mr. Kennedy stands is the old salt one. It is hard to stand beside them and not be struck with the idea that the little bubbling fountain was what first attracted the white man to this part of the country and caused the Mahoning Valley to become one of the greatest manufacturing centers of the country. PO1.1492

Ohio Historical Marker, The Salt Springs.

The Old Salt Springs has been a historical landmark of the area since the early days. When settlers first came to this area they found the Massassauger Indians camped near the springs, only one of four such springs within 200 miles. The Indians made salt there and used the water for medicinal purposes.

To protect the springs, Mr. and Mrs. J.S. Kennedy, who owned the farm on which the springs were located, went to court in 1903 to try and prevent the B & O railroad from crossing the farm and burying the springs.

They lost, however, and the springs are now 40 feet beneath the railroad bed. And so, the salt springs, shown on maps as far back as 1755, were lost forever.

Historical Marker for Salt Springs.

Inscription. Side A
A salt spring, located about a mile west of this site, was the primary attraction for immigrants to the Western Reserve territory in the mid-1700s. Prior to European-American settlement, Indians used the springs, boiling the water to extract the salt and using it for preserving meat among other uses.

In 1755, surveyor Lewis Evans underscored the importance of the springs by noting it on his “General Map of the Middle British Colonies in America.” This enticed immigrants from western Pennsylvania to the region. In addition to the salt itself, the abundance of wildlife near the spring ensured good hunting in the area.

Side B
In February 1788, Connecticut, which asserted ownership of the Western Reserve from the colonial period to 1795, deeded the Salt Spring tract to Samuel Holden Parsons, a pioneer of the Northwest Territory and former Continental army officer. In 1796, Reuben Harmon, an early settler in what became Weathersfield Township, purchased the springs. Although new settlers initially considered the springs an asset, the salinity of the water was too low to make the salt production profitable.

In 1903, railroad tracks covered the once-famous salt springs. “Mahoning” is said to be derived from the Lenape word mahonink, meaning “at the [salt] lick.”

Ohio Historical Marker, The Salt Springs
Photographed By Mike Wintermantel, August 18, 2018.