To Tediously Extract Four Bushels: Lewis & Clark Salt Cairn
LEWIS & CLARK SALT CAIRN
ON JANUARY 2, 1806, THE SALT WORKS WAS ESTABLISHED BY
THE THREE "SALT MAKERS" OF THE LEWIS & CLARKE EXPEDITION,
JOSEPH FIELDS, WILLIAM BRATTEN AND GEORGE GIBSON, WHO
REMAINED HERE UNTIL FEBRUARY 20, 1806. THESE MEN, ASSISTED AT
TIMES BY HUNTERS AND PACKERS, WERE ABLE DURING THIS PERIOD
TO TEDIOUSLY EXTRACT APPROXIMATELY FOUR BUSHELS OF SALT BY
BOILING SEAWATER DAY AND NIGHT IN FIVE METAL "KITTLES".
THE EXPEDITION HAD RUN OUT OF SALT BEFORE ARRIVAL AT
THEIR WINTER CAMP AT FORT CLATSOP, 10 MILES TO THE NORTHEAST,
AND IT WAS VERY NECESSARY FOR CURING MEAT AND PREPARING
FOR THE RETURN TRIP TO CIVILIZATION.
THE ACTUAL SITE WAS ESTABLISHED BY A COMMITTEE OF
THE OREGON HISTORICAL SOCIETY IN 1900, ON THE TESTIMONY
OF JENNY MICHEL OF SEASIDE, WHOSE CLATSOP INDIAN FATHER
REMEMBERED SEEING THE WHITE MEN BOILING WATER AND HAD
POINTED OUT THIS PLACE TO HERE WHEN SHE WAS A YOUNG GIRL.
SHE WAS BORN IN THIS VICINITY ABOUT 1816 AND DIED IN 1905.
ERECTED BY SEASIDE LIONS CLUB 1955
