Seaside — What do you do when you run out of salt, and the nearest store is more than 2,000 miles away?

On Dec. 28, 1805, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark sent forth a special detachment from their winter quarters at Fort Clatsop. Five men searched for the best location for making salt. After searching for five days, they found the perfect spot: the beach of present-day Seaside. They made salt by boiling sea water for nearly two months, while enduring the wet winter weather of the coast.

From 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 6 and 7, interpreters from the Pacific Northwest Living Historians will again bring to life the salt camp established 212 years ago, in a program titled “Lewis and Clark Salt Makers.” The event site is the west end of Avenue U, near The Tides By the Sea motel.

This free living history program is part of the 50th annual meeting of the Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation, and is open to the public.

For more information, contact the historians at privatejwhitehouse@gmail.com or call the Seaside Museum & Historical Society at 503-738-7065.