| Old Salt Lake | |
| Location: | E corner Harbor Dr and Yacht Club Way in Redondo Beach, Ca |
| Coordinates: | 33.8519°N -118.3969°W |
| Built: | 1856 |
| Designation1: | California |
| Designation1 Number: | 373 |
| Designation1 Date: | Sept. 6, 1941 |
The Old Salt Lake, also called Lake Salinas, was a historic site in coastal Southern California where sea salt was harvested for barter or sale. Old Salt Lake was a large pond that was 600by, fed by a natural spring. The lake was from what is now the Redondo Beach seashore at an elevation of about .
The Old Salt Lake was used by the Chowigna band of Tongva who dug up salt from the bottom. In the 1700s, the Chowigna bartered salt from the old Redondo Salt Lake with other tribes.[1] Their village by the lake was called Onoova-nga or "Place of Salt."
Spanish Missionaries also dug up salt from the lake in the time of Spanish missions in California.
On December 15, 1854 Manuel Dominguez sold of the Rancho San Pedro for $500 to Los Angeles businessmen Henry Allanson and William Johnson. The Chowigna who lived near the lake were relocated to missions after the land sale.[1] [2] [3] [4]
Johnson and Allanson built an evaporation pond and built a boiling house with 48 wood fired kettles to make salt faster than the evaporation pond. Johnson and Allanson exported much of the salt produced by transporting it overland to the Port of San Pedro.
Johnson and Allanson shut down the salt works in 1862 and sold it to businessman, Frances Mellus. Frances Mellus ran the Pacific Salt Works at the site until 1881.
A U.S. government geologist wrote this account in 1890:[5]
In 1901 the fire boiler were removed and the buildings were abandoned for almost 20 years; in 1924 all structures at the site were removed. Southern California Edison built the south Bay power plant on the site in 1948. In 1998 AES Corporation purchased the power plant.[6] [7] [8]
The site of Old Salt Lake was designated a California Historic Landmark (No.373) on Sept. 6, 1941. In 1955 a granite marker was put up at the site on Harbor Drive near the AES electricity power plant.