Buffalo Salt Works
Among the earliest salt operations in Nevada was the Buffalo Salt Works on the Smoke Creek Desert. The deposit was first located by B.F. "Frank" Murphy and Marion "Comanche George" Lawrence in 1864. Through the 1870s, Murphy was in charge of the operation before selling to Lanager & Sons in 1881; that year Lanager reported selling 175 tons. By the mid-1880s an estimated 1500 tons of salt had been produced, with an additional 250 tons being removed each year. By 1897, Chris Christensen took over and work had began to slow. Christensen moved to Reno about 1912, and the last production I've located was in 1916. According to one long-time resident, operations ended during World War I.
