Salt Is Absolutely
Necessary For The Comfort Of Man, And The Supply Brought Out From
The United States By The Explorers Was Now Nearly All Gone.
They Were Provided With Kettles In Which Sea-Water Could Be Boiled
Down And Salt Be Made.
It would be needful to go to work at once,
for the process of salt-making by boiling in
Ordinary kettles is
slow and tedious; not only must enough for present uses be found,
but a supply to last the party home again was necessary.
Accordingly, on the eighth of December the journal has this entry
to show what was to be done: -
"In order, therefore, to find a place for making salt, and to examine
the country further, Captain Clark set out with five men, and pursuing
a course S. 60'0 W., over a dividing ridge through thick pine timber,
much of which bad fallen, passed the beads of two small brooks.
In the neighborhood of these the land was swampy and overflowed,
and they waded knee-deep till they came to an open ridgy prairie,
covered with the plant known on our frontier by the name of sacacommis
[bearberry]. Here is a creek about sixty yards wide and running toward
Point Adams; they passed it on a small raft. At this place they
discovered a large herd of elk, and after pursuing them for three miles
over bad swamps and small ponds, killed one of them. The agility
with which the elk crossed the swamps and bogs seems almost incredible;
as we followed their track the ground for a whole acre would shake at
our tread and sometimes we sunk to our hips without finding any bottom.
Over the surface of these bogs is a species of moss, among which are
great numbers of cranberries; and occasionally there rise from the swamp
small steep knobs of earth, thickly covered with pine and laurel.
On one of these we halted at night, but it was scarcely large enough
to suffer us to lie clear of the water, and had very little dry wood.
We succeeded, however, in collecting enough to make a fire; and having
stretched the elk-skin to keep off the rain, which still continued,
slept till morning."
Next day the party were met by three Indians who had been fishing
for salmon, of which they had a goodly supply, and were now on their way
home to their village on the seacoast.
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