Facts
Saline County Illinois
Industry
- Salt production was a significant industry in the region’s early days.
- In 1818, Zadock Aydelott founded the county’s first gristmill in Somerset.
- The first occupants of Saline County were subsistence farmers who cleared a little patch they called farms, produced vegetables, grain, and raised livestock.
- Tobacco was grown in Saline County, Raleigh, and Galatia, which were the centers of the Saline County tobacco industry.
- Saline County became known for its mining activity, especially coal mining, although a silver mine operated near Somerset until 1870. The first coal mine, a drift mine, was opened by John Riben Norman near present-day Pankeyville in 1856. The first shaft mine, called the "Blackhawk mine," was started in Harrisburg by John Davenport, William White, and John Barter.
