Highlighted this week are 2 postcards featuring Redwood City salt harvesting - one from 1907 and the other from 1965. Redwood City has a long history of solar salt ponds in the area. Salt harvesting was done for decades by Leslie Salt Company. Leslie used large machinery and a tiny rail car system to gather the salt and pile it at the Redwood City Deep Water Port. Large salt pyramids were a standard part of the Redwood City harbor skyline. From here, the salt was loaded onto ships and taken all over the world.
In 1978, Leslie Salt was purchased by Cargill but salt continued to be produced under that name until 2003. The same year, Cargill sold the landmark docking and loading facility.
Future use and development of these salt harvesting lands, which have had a long history of use in Redwood City, have been a controversial topic in recent years between Cargill and local residents.
The postcard from 1965 reads:
"The Mountain of Salt at Redwood City's Deep Water Port has become a familiar sight to anyone traveling in the area - on land or by air. It belongs to the world's largest solar salt plant, located on the shores of San Francisco Bay. Salt from the sea is produced in thousands of acres of shallow crystallizing ponds along the Bay where the winds and the heat of the summer finish the evaporating process. Ships from all parts of the world are loaded with salt at the rate of 700 tons per hour."
Reference: Images of America - Redwood City, Reg McGovern, Janet McGovern, Betty & Nicholas Veronico, Arcadia Publishing, 2008
