By Bronwyn Page
From the Archives
Last month, we celebrated C.C. Hutchinson—the preacher and planner who founded our city with a railroad deal and a moral backbone. Back then, Hutchinson was known as “Temperance City,” where liquor was banned and ambition ran high. But somewhere along the way, we swapped sermons for salt and earned a new nickname: Salt City. And we owe that transformation to one of the most spectacular blunders in Kansas history.
So how did we go from Temperance City to Salt City?
Enter Ben Blanchard: Blanchard stepped off a Kansas and Pacific passenger train in the spring of 1886, coming from the East Coast, likely New York or Pennsylvania, where he had been involved in real estate and promotional ventures.
Blanchard was your classic 19th-century promoter: flashy, confident, and always chasing the next big opportunity. By May 28, 1886, he had organized the Inter-State Investment Company and purchased 280 acres south of the Arkansas River. Just days later, on June 1, 1886, he secured a state charter for what would become South Hutchinson.
In 1887, Blanchard was drilling in South Hutchinson, hoping to strike oil and boost his real estate venture, but instead, he drilled right into a massive underground salt deposit. Rather than celebrate, Blanchard panicked. No oil meant no money, or so he thought.
In a move that would make any con artist blush, Blanchard poured actual oil into the well to convince investors they’d struck it rich. It was a short-lived scheme. The truth came out, and Blanchard’s investors, who had sunk thousands into the project, were left with nothing but salty dispositions. Blanchard, ever the escape artist, skipped town and headed west, always chasing fortune, never quite catching it. Blanchard’s final years were spent in California, where he continued dabbling in real estate and promotion, but never recaptured the momentum or money he lost in Kansas. He died with little to his name, remembered more for his flair and folly than for any lasting success.
Meanwhile, others saw what Blanchard didn’t. Men like Emerson Carey recognized the value of that “worthless white rock” and built thriving businesses around it. By 1910, Hutchinson had 26 salt companies. Today, only a few remain, but salt mining is still a cornerstone of our local economy—and a defining part of our identity.
If you want to see where it all began, head to South Hutchinson, just northwest of Main Street and US-50. There, you’ll find the Salt Discovery Well, a historical marker commemorating the site where Blanchard accidentally tapped into one of the richest salt veins in the world.
So here’s to Ben Blanchard: the man who struck it rich and didn’t know it. His salty misstep is what helped shape the city we now know and love.
This is the second in our Reno County History Series—a celebration of the stories, stumbles, and serendipity that built our community. Stay tuned for more tales from the archives, where the past is anything but boring.
Bronwyn Page is the Director of Operations at the Reno County Museum. She can be reached at bronwyn@renocomuseum.org.