For centuries, any vessel going up the Uruguay River hit, at the level of the present-day city, an obstacle that did not forgive: a succession of rapids and drops of turbulent waters that broke navigation dead. You had to stop, unload the cargo, get past the stones by force of arm. That stubborn accident of geography —the falls of the river— was what gave Salto its name. And there is a perfect irony in the story: the same drop that for centuries halted the boats is the one that, in the 20th century, became the engine of the Salto Grande dam. The hindrance ended up being the source of energy.
In this part of its course, then, the river historically presented that series of falls or rapids that hindered and interrupted navigation. The vessels going up or down the river found at this point a natural obstacle that forced them to stop, transfer the cargo or get past the rapids, which turned the place into a point of passage and river activity. From those falls of the river comes the name of the city and the department.
Before the arrival of the Europeans, the region was inhabited by indigenous peoples, mainly Charrúas and groups of Guaraní origin, who lived from hunting, fishing and gathering on the banks of the great river. For them, the Uruguay River and its resources were the basis of life, and the area of the falls was a recognizable point of the territory.
Curiously, those falls that gave the city its name were largely transformed in the 20th century by the construction of the Salto Grande dam, which made use of precisely that drop of the river to generate hydroelectric energy and, in doing so, modified the original landscape by creating a large reservoir. Thus, the natural accident that named Salto ended up being the same one that, centuries later, gave rise to the great engineering work that marks its modern profile.
During the colonial period, the region of the Uruguay River litoral was a frontier zone between the dominions of the Spanish and Portuguese crowns, and a territory traveled by the Jesuit missions, the cattle estancias and the population movements tied to the river. The position of Salto, on the great river that served as a route of communication and as a boundary, gave it a strategic and commercial value from early on.
Over the course of the 19th century, already in the framework of independent Uruguay, the city of Salto consolidated as an important river port and commercial center of the litoral. The Uruguay River was a fundamental artery for the transport of goods and people, and Salto, located at a key point of that axis, benefited from the river traffic, the commerce and the economic activity of the region. The arrival of immigrants —Europeans of different origins— provided labor, trades and dynamism, and contributed to the growth of the city.
That period of prosperity left its mark on the urban heritage of Salto: stately buildings, mansions, squares and constructions of the late 19th and early 20th century bear witness to that era of boom tied to the port and to commerce. The city grew in population and importance until it became one of the main ones in the country, and developed a social, cultural and educational life that distinguished it in the Uruguayan interior. On that basis was built the modern Salto, which would later add thermal tourism and the great dam.
As it grew, Salto forged an identity of its own tied both to its agricultural production and to its cultural life. On the economic front, the department became the great citrus center of Uruguay: the cultivation of oranges, mandarins and other citrus found ideal conditions in the climate and soils of the region, and the orange groves spread through the Salto countryside, becoming a productive and identity emblem that endures to this day. Citrus growing gave work, wealth and fame to the area, and it is a central part of Salto's economy and image.
On the cultural front, Salto stood out as a city of strong intellectual and artistic life, and was the cradle of important figures of Uruguayan literature. That tradition was reflected in its cultural institutions, its libraries, its theaters and its museums, and contributed to giving the city a profile of a cultural center of the interior, beyond its economic importance. The architectural heritage of the boom period and the cultural institutions form a legacy that the city values and shows its visitors.
This double identity —land of citrus and city of culture— coexists with the tourist appeal that would make it famous in the 20th century: thermalism. The combination of a historic and cultured city, a rich agricultural production, a river protagonist and, above all, the thermal waters, shaped the diverse profile of contemporary Salto, capable of offering the traveler wellness, nature, history and culture in a single destination of the Uruguayan litoral.
One of the most singular chapters of the modern history of Salto is that of the discovery and development of its thermal waters, which transformed the region into one of the main wellness-tourism destinations in Uruguay. According to the most widespread story, the thermal waters of the litoral emerged from deep drillings carried out in the search for oil: instead of the hydrocarbon, what gushed out was hot, mineral-medicinal water, coming from underground layers at great depth.
Far from being a disappointment, that finding opened the door to a new and prosperous course for the region. The waters, which gushed at high temperature and with mineral properties valued for their relaxing and therapeutic effects, were harnessed to create thermal complexes. Thus were born destinations like the Termas del Daymán, near the city, and the Termas del Arapey, farther north, which over time became some of the most visited thermal centers in the country.
Thermal tourism gave Salto and the whole litoral a first-order tourist appeal, especially powerful in the winter months, when the contrast between the cold and the hot water is most pleasant. Around the hot springs grew an infrastructure of hotels, inns, water parks and spa services that made wellness one of the great industries of the region. In this way, what began as a failed search for oil ended up giving Salto a natural resource that redefined its tourist identity and positioned it as the thermal capital of Uruguay.
The other great milestone of the modern history of Salto is the construction of the Salto Grande dam, one of the most important engineering works in Uruguay and a notable example of international cooperation. Built on the Uruguay River and opened in the 1980s, it is a binational hydroelectric plant, jointly managed by Uruguay and Argentina through a common body, which makes use of the flow and the drop of the river —precisely the area of the old falls— to generate electric energy for both countries.
The magnitude of the work profoundly transformed the region. The construction of the dam involved the creation of an enormous reservoir or artificial lake, the Salto Grande Lake, that extends upriver and flooded lands and completely modified the river landscape. That lake became, over time, a space for fishing, water sports and recreation, adding a new natural attraction to the area. Over the crest of the dam an international bridge was also laid that links Salto with the Argentine city of Concordia, facilitating the border crossing and the integration between the two banks.
The Salto Grande dam represents Salto's entry into the era of the great works and of energy, and symbolizes the historic integration between Uruguay and Argentina around the river they share. Together with thermalism, citrus growing and its cultural heritage, the dam completes the profile of a city and a region that knew how to combine nature, production, energy and wellness to become one of the great hubs of the Uruguayan litoral.