Timeline story
Bullitt's Lick: Kentucky's first industry
Salt was frontier "white gold," and the only large commercial saltworks west of the Alleghenies during the Revolution sat about three miles west of present-day Shepherdsville.
Capt. Thomas Bullitt surveyed the Salt River lick in 1773 for Col. William Christian; production started in 1779. Workers boiled brine in rows of iron kettles—Col. William Fleming noted a trough holding nearly 2,000 gallons emptied three times a day.
Pack trains and flatboats carried the salt to stations across Kentucky and beyond. A fort went up in 1780 after raids, and a boomtown nicknamed Saltburg grew around the furnaces. The fires finally went out around 1830 when cheaper salt arrived from elsewhere.
Cite this story
Published . Last revised .
Chicago
Snowden, Shannon. "Bullitt's Lick: Kentucky's first industry." Kentucky History Drive. Published September 12, 2026. Last revised September 12, 2026. https://kyhistorydrive.com/stories/bullitts-lick-kentuckys-first-industry/.
MLA
Snowden, Shannon. "Bullitt's Lick: Kentucky's first industry." Kentucky History Drive, published 12 Sept. 2026, last revised 12 Sept. 2026, https://kyhistorydrive.com/stories/bullitts-lick-kentuckys-first-industry/.
Report a correction for Bullitt's Lick: Kentucky's first industry (opens in a new tab)
