盐,是人们生活的必需品。早在先秦时期,巴蜀居民即开始食用偶然溢出地表的自然泉和出露的岩盐。其后又逐渐开发,熬制井盐。地处鄂西北边陲的湖北省十堰市(原郧阳地区)境内不产盐,大部分食盐靠人力翻山越岭长途跋涉到四川背运。因此食盐异常紧缺,素有“斗米斤盐”、“吃盐当过年”之说。为解决运盐问题,十堰境内房县、竹山、竹溪3县的先民们以顽强的筑路精神和杰出的聪明才智,在悬崖峭壁上,在崇山峻岭中开凿了一 Salt is a necessity for people’s lives. As early as the pre-Qin period, residents of Bashu began to eat natural springs and exposed rock salt which accidentally overflowed the surface. Then gradually developed, boil salt well. Located in the northwestern border of Hubei Province, Shiyan City, Hubei Province (formerly Yunyang area) does not produce salt, most of the salt by human over mountains to travel long distances to Sichuan. Therefore, the salt shortage, known as “bucket rice pounds salt ”, “salt when the New Year ” said. In order to solve the problem of transporting salt, the ancestors in Shifang, Fangshan County, Zhushan and Zhuxi three counties, with their tenacious road building spirit and outstanding ingenuity, dug in the steep cliffs