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Oregon History Comes Alive in Seaside

(Seaside, Oregon) – Hold onto your hats, as this is the closest thing to time travel available to coastal visitors. But you might want to hold onto your dogs too, as someone on Seaside’s beach may try to trade you something for your mutt to use it as food.

On February 17 - 19, Seaside, the Fort Clatsop National Memorial and the Seaside History Museum celebrate this Oregon Coast resort's contribution to the history of Lewis & Clark with the “Saltmakers Return.” On these dates, head to Avenue U (at the southern end of town) and you’ll find signs declaring “You Are Now Entering 1806.”

They aren’t kidding. The men are in period costume, set with the task of boiling sea water for salt. But to take things all the way, they don’t even talk like the modern populace, instead speaking in period dialect and completely unaware of any cultural or technological reference beyond the year 1806. Visitors are encouraged to ask questions, but the demonstrators will be playing their parts so completely they won't "understand" modern words, slang or references to modern conveniences. Officials advise: "The best way to start a conversation with a Salt Maker is to ask, 'How are you today?' 'Where are you from?' and 'What is your name?' "

From there, you can ask other questions about their journey.

During the Corps of Discovery’s stay in NW Oregon in the winter of 1805-06, some were dispatched to what would eventually become Seaside. There, they obtained salt the old fashioned, frontier way, boiling it around the clock for 48 hours.

There is a replica of the rock construction they used to boil the water sitting a few blocks down from Avenue U. This is the actual site, so determined during the Lewis & Clark Centennial 100 years ago, through discussions with local tribal members still living who remembered the group.

The Saltmakers Return is a particularly fun, interesting and extremely detailed interactive interpretation, as those playing the parts have thoroughly studied the past lives of these men, army protocols of the time and their personal adventures en route to the Northwest. Staying true to the historical events, these role players will also perform their duties for 48 hours straight, starting at 5 p.m. on Friday, February 17 and going until 5 p.m. on Sunday, February 19.

One notoriously humorous aspect of the biannual Salt Makers event is that demonstrators often try to trade goods for beach goers’ dogs so they can eat it. The Corps of Discovery wandered into the culinary territory of canines several times throughout their journey.

The event also features “contextual greeters,” who are placed at the entrance to this “other time” and prepare visitors for this temporal adventure. As one of the greeters wrote in recent years: “My job was to welcome visitors, let them know they were traveling back to the year 1806, and tell them they were approaching the Lewis & Clark Salt Works. They were to forget the hotels, houses and parked cars a few hundred yards behind them and imagine they were approaching this camp 195 years ago. The visitors would soon find themselves entering a different culture.”

Starting 5 p.m. on February 17 and going until 5 p.m. on Sunday, February 19. The event takes place on the beach at Avenue U. (503) 738-7065.

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