Salt Springs, Sierra Nevada - October 2022

What an interesting place. With your description of the trail, I don't think I will ever attempt the hike to see the site. So, thank you much for sharing your photos - the only way I'll see the site.
 
Are you up to the task? I think I know the answer to that! Very interesting area. I had no idea salt was collected that way. I've never made it further than the dam.
 
Really interesting! The amount of effort to excavate 369 basins for evaporation, then later harvest the salt is quite an enterprise.
Salt is one of the original currencies. I remember seeing barefoot porters in Nepal where each man had his own salt pouch.
 
This is one of the most interesting and exciting trip logs! Thanks for sharing a unique and fascinating part of our human history. Quite a hike too!
 
What an amazing site. Thanks for the report.

"Salt is one of the original currencies."
I read that the Indians that worked this site did use the salt for trading. They had to keep the site location well protected to keep it a secret from others. Not that different from miners that actually did find gold and then had to keep the location of their mine a secret.
 
Ted said:
What an amazing site. Thanks for the report.

"Salt is one of the original currencies."
I read that the Indians that worked this site did use the salt for trading. They had to keep the site location well protected to keep it a secret from others. Not that different from miners that actually did find gold and then had to keep the location of their mine a secret.
Click to expand...
Ted is correct. This article adds more to the story about the Miwok Tribe moving to becoming salt traders - Ancient Miwok Harvested Salt

Since my sister-in-law's tribe (the people driven from their ancestral home in Yosemite Valley) was closely related to the Coastal Miwok (Point Reyes), I was curious about harvesting salt at the north coast. The article talks about natural depressions that caught ocean water and spray. But, the coast lacked the intense sunlight (for evaporation) of summer that is a norm of the west slope of the Sierra.
 
Monte that is a great story.
I have seen that lake on maps but never knew the history of that area.
Just more evidence of how industrious the indigenous peoples were.

Thanks for the history lesson.
Frank
 
craig333 said:
Are you up to the task? I think I know the answer to that! Very interesting area. I had no idea salt was collected that way. I've never made it further than the dam.
Click to expand...
Thanks Craig!

I wanted to make note that the North Fork of the Mokelumne River is a part of early Wander the West history. One of the WTW rallys that founder DirtyDog organized was held along the river below the dam -

October Pork Rally Report

Unfortunately the bridge across the river that accessed that campground is closed. We had plans to spend the night along the river after our hike but the two other small campgrounds were closed with locked gates. The possible dispersed sites were inaccessible due to a logging crew doing major clearing under the PG&E high voltage lines from the powerhouse.
 
"One large chunk of granite caught our attention"--indeed! That's an amazing outcrop! Looks like an area of wall rock xenoliths within the granitic intrusion. Perhaps proximal to an edge of the intrusion? Clasts are subrounded to subangular and supported in the granitic matrix. Younger veins and small dikes cut both the granitic matrix and the xenoliths. Awesome picture!

Foy
 
I figured that chunk of granite would get a geezer geologist's blood flowing. After the beautiful uniform granite just upstream, it was a surprise to crawl over this piece of rock with a story to tell!

Foy said:
"One large chunk of granite caught our attention"--indeed! That's an amazing outcrop! Looks like an area of wall rock xenoliths within the granitic intrusion. Perhaps proximal to an edge of the intrusion? Clasts are subrounded to subangular and supported in the granitic matrix. Younger veins and small dikes cut both the granitic matrix and the xenoliths. Awesome picture!

Foy
Click to expand...


Salt-Springs-Oct-2022-017-copy.webp
 
craig333 said:
Are you up to the task? I think I know the answer to that! Very interesting area. I had no idea salt was collected that way. I've never made it further than the dam.
Click to expand...
I will update the blog as this unfolds. Two more salt springs have been located and documented. Two more to go. :)



Salt-Springs-2-Oct-2022-001-copy.webp








Salt-Springs-2-Oct-2022-006-copy.webp
 
very informative trip report !! i wonder how long it would take for some of those salt water buckets to actually dry up and turn into salt ?

and, whatever foy said, i just assume he knows what he is talking about.
go
 
I wonder if they only put a few inches of water in the "buckets". Filling all the way would take sooooo long to dry. And what if it rained? Did they put Goretex over the "buckets", so the vapors would escape, but rain wouldn't come in?
 
rubberlegs said:
I wonder if they only put a few inches of water in the "buckets". Filling all the way would take sooooo long to dry. And what if it rained? Did they put Goretex over the "buckets", so the vapors would escape, but rain wouldn't come in?
Click to expand...
I've been contemplating this question also but if they were only partially filled, why make them so deep? It makes me wish we could go back in time and observe the process.

We are off to find the last of the five springs mentioned in the USGS paper. :)
 
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