Poszukiwania soli w Polsce w drugiej połowie XVIII wieku

Following the First Partition in 1772, Poland lost the salt mines in Wieliczka, Bochnia and in the territory of Ruthenia to Austria. This was a serious blow to the economy, because since then, it became necessary to import salt, which was primarily taken advantage of by the Royal Prussian Maritime Trading Company (Pruska Kompania Morska) importing it from Austria. King Stanislaw August Poniatowski tried to initiate the exploration and exploitation of salt in the areas where it could be profitable. To this end, he ordered the exploration to Filip Carosi and Stanislaw Okraszewski, among other. The salt-works of the Castellan of Łuków, Jacek Jezierski in the town of Solec, in the Łęczyckie Region, active since 1780, was a private investment. Leopold von Beust's Joint Stock Company obtained salt from a brine near the town of Busko, and The Domestic Persons Company (Kompania z Osób Krajowych) - from a brine in the town of Rączki on Pilica river. In 1782, the King appointed The Ore Commission (Komisja Kruszcowa), consisted of twelve commissioners, in order to conduct the exploration for minerals, including salt, their extraction and further administration. The Crown Treasury Commission (Komisja Skarbu Koronnego), a magistracy dealing with, among others, the economy of the country in a broad sense, was also involved in the exploration and exploitation of salt. At its command, in the summer of 1788, Tadeusz Czacki made a tour of the Kielce region in search of traces of salt. In view of the important events of the Four-Year Sejm (Sejm Czteroletni) and the subsequent loss of independence, the subject of salt exploration had to be abandoned.