The White Gold of Inagua: The History and Process of Morton Salt
I. The Beginnings: From Rakes to Revolution
The story of salt in Inagua predates modern corporations. For centuries, "salt raking" was a brutal, manual labor performed by early settlers and enslaved people who used wooden rakes to scrape crystals from natural ponds. However, the modern industrial era began in the late 1930s with the arrival of three American brothers: Doug, Bill, and Jim Erickson.
In 1935, the Ericksons founded the West India Chemical Company. They saw the potential in Inagua’s flat, arid landscape and constant trade winds. They moved away from manual labor, introducing mechanization, building canals, and installing the "Pemona" pump to flood Lake Windsor (now Lake Rosa) with seawater. By 1954, their operation had grown so successful—yet so capital-intensive—that they sold it to the Morton Salt Company of Chicago. Under Morton’s stewardship (operating as Morton Bahamas Limited), the facility was modernized into the global powerhouse it is today.
