Salt Cairn - Seaside, Oregon - American Guide Series on Waymarking.com

"SALT CAIRN, a heap of brine-crusted rocks protected by an iron railing. It was built by the men Lewis and Clark sent to get salt by boiling down sea water. Clark wrote that he: "directed...Jos. Fields, Bratton Gibson to proceed to the Ocean at some convenient place form a Camp and Commence making Salt with five of the largest Kittles, and Willard and Wiser to assist them in carrying the Kittles to the Sea Coast." Messengers reported that "the men had at length established themselves on the coast about 15 miles S. W. from this, near the lodge of some Killamuck families; that the Indians were very friendly and had given them a considerable quantity of the blubber of a whale which perished on the Coast some distance S. E. of them ; part of this blubber they brought with them, it was white and not unlike the fat of Poark, tho' the texture was more spongey and somewhat courser...." Lewis had some of the blubber cooked and liked it. Lewis continued: "they commenced making salt and found that they could obtain from 3 quarts to a gallon a day; they brought with them a specimine of the salt of about a gallon ; this was a great treat to myself and most of the party, having not had any since the 2Oth Ult. mo.; I say most of the party, for my friend Cap't Clark, declares it to be a mere matter of indifference with him whether he uses it or not; for myself I must confess I felt a considerable inconvenience from the want of it; the want of bread I consider trivial provided, I get fat meat, for as to the species of meat I am not very particular, the flesh of the dog the horse and the wolf, having from habit become equally familiar [as] with any other, and I have learned to think that if the chord be sufficiently strong, which binds the soul and body together, it does not so much matter about the materials which compose it."" -Oregon: End of the Trail, 1940

This site now includes a fenced-in area with the salt works on display, plus several markers describing the history of the site and the Lewis & Clark Expedition. Nearby, the resort town of Seaside has grown up around the location. The site is now part of Lewis & Clark National Historic Park.

Click a photo to enlarge