Spurred by President Thomas Jefferson's intense interest in exploration of the wilderness west of the Missouri, as well as by powerful financial interests in the eastern United States, Congress appropriated $2500 for an expedition to "(extend) the external commerce of the United States." With a company of 45 men Meriwether Lewis and William Clark began their historic overland journey in May 1804. They reached the Columbia on October 16, 1805, and viewed the Pacific Ocean on November 7. In early December they crossed to the south bank of the Columbia which offered easier access to game and to the ocean for needed salt. The south shore also provided better access to the river for canoe exploration.

Their winter campsite, named Fort Clatsop, was constructed on the bank of the Lewis & Clark River. Supplies were depleted by the time they reached the Columbia and several months would be needed to prepare for the return trip. Desperately needing salt now to cure and preserve a meat supply and for their personal use, the expedition sent five of its men to find a beach site for saltmaking. The camp was established some 15 miles south of Fort Clatsop near the mouth of the Necanicum, the present site of Seaside. The camp was comfortable; deer and elk were plentiful for meat; and some 2 to 3 gallons of salt a day could be extracted when the kettles were boiled constantly. The salt here however, was in diluted quantity due to the fresh water entering from the Necanicum.

In February 1806, Captain Lewis, with a party including Sacajawea and her husband Charbonneau, viewed the saltmakers' camp and proceeded on to climb Tillamook Head in search of a large beached whale said to be on the sand south of the headland. They found the whale carcass and before returning, named a nearby creek the Ecola, the Indian word for whale. The saltmakers' camp was disbanded and the salt supply taken to Fort Clatsop on February 21, 1806. After presenting Fort Clatsop and its contents to the chief of the Clatsops, the expedition began its return trip March 23, 1806.

The saltmakers' cairn is the westernmost encampment site of the Lewis & Clark Expedition and is an honoured monument at the center of Seaside.

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