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Salt was so important in the days prior to
refrigerators, because it preserves meats and other food. In the Roman
Empire, 100 million people used about one million tons of salt per year.
The Romans would even pay their soldiers part of their salary in salt.
The word "salary" comes from the word (salarium) meaning salt. Many wars
were fought over control of salt production.
Salt, also known as the mineral halite, has many uses. Almost every
person in the world has some direct or indirect contact with salt every
day. People use salt to flavor or preserve their food or apply rock salt
to walkways to remove ice in the winter. Mining salt can be through
brine wells, solar evaporation, or mining of ancient salt deposits.
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Halite or salt
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Solar evaporation in the San Francisco Bay
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