Saline Valley Salt Tram Historic Structure | |
 Saline Valley salt tram summit, 1989 | |
  Location in the United States and California  Saline Valley salt tram (the United States) | |
| Location | Inyo Mountains, north of Keeler between Gordo Peak and New York Butte |
|---|---|
| Nearest city | Keeler, California, Death Valley National Park |
| Coordinates | 36°36′29″N 117°51′13″W / 36.60806°N 117.85361°W |
| NRHP reference No. | 74000514 |
| Added to NRHP | December 31, 1974 |
The Saline Valley salt tram is located in Inyo County, California, United States. The electric aerial tramway was constructed from 1911 to 1913 to carry salt from the Saline Valley over the Inyo Mountains and into the Owens Valley. Covering a distance of 13.4 mi (21.6 km), it operated sporadically from 1913 to 1935 for four different companies. During its operation, it was the steepest tram in the United States.
The tram was built for the Saline Valley Salt Company (SVSC) by the Trenton Iron Company, but the costs of its construction and operation were ruinously expensive for the SVSC. The salt mining operation and tram were leased in 1915 to the Owens Valley Salt Company until it went bankrupt in 1918. In 1920, the tram was taken over by the Trenton Iron Company, which sold it to the Sierra Salt Company in 1928. The Sierra Salt Company put it back into service until the company went bankrupt in 1935. The tram was included in the National Register of Historic Places on December 31, 1974.