The Rich History Of Great Inagua’s Salt Industry

Great Inagua sits at the southern end of the Bahamas, closer to Cuba than to Nassau, and its story is written in salt. The Morton Bahamas Limited operation here produces around one million tons of salt annually, a figure that places the island among the world’s top solar salt producers. That single industry has shaped everything about life on Inagua — the economy, the daily rhythm, even the way people mark time.

This article traces how salt built this island, from the early days of hand-raking under the sun to the mechanised solar pans that still run today. It covers the people who drove the industry forward, the infrastructure that kept it moving, and what that history means for a visitor who wants to understand the place beyond the beach.

Great Inagua’s salt landscape: geography and movement

The island’s salt works stretch across the southern coast, with Mathew Town as the main settlement and the industrial hub.

The solar salt operation occupies large, shallow pans between Georgie’s Hill and Lake Windsor, a system that relies on the steady trade winds and intense sun to evaporate seawater into brine. A canal cut through the cliff at Northwest Point feeds seawater from Man of War Bay into the lake, a piece of engineering that transformed the island’s production capacity. The drive from Mathew Town to the pans takes about fifteen minutes along a single road, and most of the industrial activity is visible from the roadside.

What surprised me when I visited was how exposed everything feels — the pans stretch flat to the horizon, the wind carries a constant salt spray, and the only shade comes from the few buildings near the loading dock. It’s not a scenic landscape in the usual sense, but it has a raw, functional honesty that tells you exactly what this place does for a living.

The salt works: where the industry lives

Three locations anchor the story of Inagua’s salt industry, each representing a different chapter in its evolution.

Town Pans: where it all started

The original salt pans sat right in Town Pans, a section of Mathew Town where workers harvested salt by hand using rakes and shovels under the blazing sun. A small railroad system using donkey carts carried the salt from the pans to the storage house, a method that required immense physical labour for relatively low output. Carl Farquharson, the first Inaguian general manager of the salt company, recalled those early days in an interview, describing how workers moved the salt in small boats to larger ships anchored offshore — a process that involved loading tons of salt into a barge while waves rocked the vessel. The site today is mostly residential, but the name Town Pans still marks the area on local maps.

Northwest Point and the canal

When the Erickson brothers arrived in 1935 and established the West India Chemical Company, they moved production to a larger site near Northwest Point. Jim Erickson led a crew that cut a wide opening in the cliff bordering the sea a few miles north of Mathew Town, initially using pick axes and sledge hammers before bringing in a clamshell bucket. A Pemona pump was installed on steel beams crossing the canal at the sea entrance, sucking water from Man of War Bay and forcing it through the canal all the way to Lake Windsor. The pump ran day and night, and the lake began producing thicker brine, which Jim used to fill new pans between Georgie’s Hill and the lake — pans significantly larger than the ones in town. Margery Erickson, Jim’s wife, documented this transformation in her book Great Inagua, describing the months of ambulatory investigation that preceded the canal work.

Morton Bahamas Limited and the modern operation

In 1955, the Erickson brothers sold the company to Morton International, Inc. of Chicago, which renamed it Morton Bahamas Limited. The sale came after the West India Chemical Company struggled to compete with Morton’s scale, and Margery Erickson described the loss as feeling like “losing an arm or leg.” Despite the sale, Bill Erickson stayed on at the company and was influential in training the local workforce. The operation expanded under Morton, with a dock and conveyor belt system that allowed salt to load directly into ship hatches — a major improvement over the barge method. The company also established the Inagua General Store, which brought fresh fruits, vegetables, and meats to the island via the company’s salt ship, the Cecile Erickson.

Planning a visit to Great Inagua’s salt sites

Getting to Inagua and moving around requires advance planning — this isn’t an island where you can wing it.

Getting there

Bahamasair operates flights from Nassau to Inagua’s Matthew Town Airport, with a flight time of roughly two hours. Flights are limited — typically a few times per week — so booking well ahead is essential. There is no ferry service to Inagua from other islands. Once on the ground, there are no rental car agencies in the conventional sense, but local residents sometimes offer informal transport arrangements. Ask at your accommodation or at the airport upon arrival.

Best time to visit

The dry season from November to April offers the most reliable weather for exploring the salt pans and industrial sites. Rain can make the roads around the pans muddy and difficult to navigate, and the summer wet season from June to October brings higher humidity and more frequent showers. The salt production itself runs year-round, but the evaporation process is most visible during the drier months when the pans are actively crystallising.

Costs and local friction

Accommodation on Inagua is limited to a handful of small guesthouses and rental apartments in Mathew Town. Prices are modest compared to Nassau, but availability is tight — book months ahead. There are no restaurants serving tourists in the usual sense; the Inagua General Store and a few local eateries provide basic meals. Cash is essential because card payment infrastructure is minimal. The island operates on island time in a very real way — services open when they open, and patience is a required travel skill.

On the ground: what to know before you go

Life on Inagua revolves around the salt company, and that shapes everything from daily schedules to social life.

Packing and preparation

The sun is intense year-round, and the salt pans reflect that heat back at you. A wide-brimmed hat, long sleeves, and reef-safe mineral sunscreen are non-negotiable if you plan to spend time near the pans. The wind carries fine salt dust, so a pair of polarized sunglasses helps protect your eyes. Sturdy closed-toe shoes are important because the ground around the industrial areas is uneven and scattered with sharp shell fragments.

Local customs and etiquette

The salt company is the largest employer on the island, and many residents have family members who work or worked there. Asking about the industry is a natural conversation starter, but avoid prying into company operations or recent management changes — locals are proud of the industry but guarded about internal matters. Greetings are important: a simple “good morning” or “good afternoon” is expected before any request. The pace of life is slow, and rushing conversations is considered rude.

Safety and practicalities

The industrial areas around the pans and the loading dock are active worksites. Do not enter restricted zones, and keep a safe distance from machinery and moving vehicles. The canal at Northwest Point has steep, slippery edges — stay on the road shoulder and do not attempt to climb down to the water. Mosquitoes can be heavy near Lake Windsor, especially in the late afternoon, so bring insect repellent with DEET. There is no hospital on Inagua; the nearest medical facility is a clinic in Mathew Town that handles basic care. Serious emergencies require evacuation to Nassau.

Questions about Great Inagua’s salt industry

Why is salt production so important to Great Inagua?

The salt industry is the island’s primary employer and economic driver. Morton Bahamas Limited produces around one million tons annually, and most working-age residents have some connection to the company — either directly or through family. Without the salt operation, the island’s population would likely be a fraction of its current size.

Can visitors tour the salt pans or the Morton facility?

There are no formal public tours of the salt pans or the processing facility. You can view the pans from the roadside and see the canal at Northwest Point from the road shoulder, but the industrial areas are active worksites and not open to walk-ins. Asking at the company office in Mathew Town may yield an informal arrangement, but don’t count on it.

What happened to the Cecile Erickson after its final voyage?

After 57 years of service, the Cecile Erickson made its final voyage to Inagua in 2013. The company decided it was too expensive to maintain the vessel properly. The ship’s retirement marked the end of an era for island residents, who had relied on it not just for salt transshipment but for groceries and supplies brought in from outside.

Is Great Inagua worth visiting if I’m not interested in industrial history?

Probably not. The island has limited beaches, no resorts, and very few tourist services. The main draw is the salt industry and the raw, working-island atmosphere. If you’re looking for swimming, snorkelling, or nightlife, Inagua will feel frustratingly empty. The island is best suited to travellers who want to understand a different side of Bahamian life.

How did the Erickson brothers change the salt industry on Inagua?

Before the Erickson brothers arrived in 1935, salt was harvested by hand in small pans using rakes and shovels. They mechanised the operation by cutting a canal from the sea to Lake Windsor, installing a pump that ran continuously, and building larger pans that dramatically increased production. Their company, the West India Chemical Company, laid the foundation for the modern Morton operation that followed.

One last thing about Inagua’s salt

The salt on Great Inagua isn’t just a commodity — it’s a record of human effort written into the landscape. Standing at the edge of those pans, watching the brine shimmer under the wind, you’re looking at the same process that drew the Erickson brothers here nearly a century ago. The scale has changed, but the basic act of letting the sun do the work hasn’t. For a deeper look at how Bahamian identity is shaped by industries and traditions beyond tourism, the story of rum running in the Bahamas offers another angle on the same theme.

Sources and further reading

Inagua Heritage and Salty Festival: Culture and Tradition in the Bahamas. Discover Bahamas, 2024.

History of Salt Industry. Salt Industry in Inagua, 2024.