Native American Salt Basins in the Sierra Nevada

Native Americans of the Miwok tribe in the northern Sierra Nevada, California carved these basins into the granite bedrock to produce salt for trade. They filled the basins with water from a salt spring and let the water evaporate, leaving a salt residue in the basin. Shown here is an aerial view of a salty pond above the spring used to fill the basins to make the salt. The basins are shown in the picture in the bedrock opposite the pond.