Daniel Boone’s Salt Lick

Daniel Boone’s Salt Lick. . Daniel Boone, in company with William Hill, spent the winter of 1767–68 hunting and exploring on the upper waters of the Big Sandy River. They were forced to make camp near this spot during the severe winter months close to the salt lick which flowed from a spring just above here. Game was plentiful and the two hunters had only to wait in their little shack for the deer and other animals to come to lick the salt. Thus their scanty supply of ammunition and food was conserved, and this salt lick probably played an important part in saving the lives of the woodsmen. , Another famous American, the great orator and statesman, Henry Clay, in partnership with John C. Breckinridge, was the first owner of a great boundary of this land, but sold the area surrounding the salt lick for a very small rum to men who, realizing the commercial importance of the salt deposit, began exploiting it in 1795. From then on until after the Civil War, salt was made and sold. Residents in the area would bring their families and camp here for weeks until they had made their own year’s supply. Shortly after the Civil War the salt lick was abandoned, but the legend of Daniel Boone lives on.