What is the history of Equality, Illinois?
FranceFrench settlers were extracting salt near Equality as early as 1735. Native Americans in the United StatesNative Americans made salt here long before then. In 1803 the American Indians ceded their “Great Salt Springs” to the US government by treaty. The government then leased the springs, requiring the holder to produce a certain quantity of salt each year or pay a penalty. The salt works is referred to as the “United States Saline” in old documents. Isaac White was in charge of the salt works in 1811. White volunteered for the Indiana militia that year, and was killed at the Battle of Tippecanoe. Special territorial laws permitted exceptions to anti-slavery treaties at these salines, and slaves were used extensively in manufacturing salt. The census of 1820 for Gallatin County listed 239 slaves or servants. In 1842, a local landowner, John CrenshawJohn Hart Crenshaw, built the Crenshaw House mansion at nearby Junction, Illinois and illegally used the labor of black slaves to min
