Talk:Ohlone/salt

Salt
Mark Kurlansky, in his book, Salt: A World History, asserts that if any trail is followed sufficently, salt will be found. For the Ohlone the salt trails ran to either the Pacific Ocean, the San Francisco Bay or a natural brine spring. And except for a half dozen tribes, all California natives ate salt in one form or another, including plants as a salt source. As for "rock salt" (halite), since salt is water-soluble it usually requires dry, arid climatic conditions to develop. Rock salt was not recorded in the Ohlone landscape, hence, was probably unavailable to the Ohlone.

Value
Salt wars have been recorded for California tribes. Trade became the preferred method for obtaining salt. The usual barter was bead money or food. Once the transaction was agreed to, salt gathering could be accomplished by whatever means needed.

If an agreement could not reached, some tribes were known to sneak into nearby salt areas, then work under moonlight. If needed, enough salt was taken for several months.

Lastly, besides being eaten with food, salt was used a medicine for stomach aches and colds.