Salt of the Earth: A Caddo Industry in Arkansas

Lesson Plan by Sherry J. Tipps, Conway, Arkansas

2001-2002 Butler Fellow

Revised 2007-08 School Year Utilizing 2006 Social Studies Frameworks and 2007 School Library Media Frameworks

In this short lesson students will learn about the Caddo salt industry at the Hardman

Settlement east of Arkadelphia. As well as learning how salt deposits formed in the West

Gulf Coastal Plain of Arkansas, students will study the process of Caddo salt production

and the uses and trade value of salt.

Grades: 5th

– 8th

The lesson can be adapted for students in grades 9 thru 12.

Arkansas Curriculum Frameworks:

Arkansas History Student Learning Expectations: G.1.5.2 Identify and describe the region of the United States in

which Arkansas is located

G.1.6.2 Examine the location, place, and region of Arkansas and determine the characteristics of each

G.3.5.7 Discuss ways in which Arkansans adapted to and modified

the environment

H.6.5.29 Locate and describe the three main American Indian cultures in Arkansas during the exploration period: * Quapaw Indians * Caddo Indians * Osage Indians

G.1. AH.7-8.1 Compare and contrast the six geographical land regions of

Arkansas: * Ozark Mountains * Ouachita Mountains * Arkansas River Valley * Mississippi Alluvial Plain * Crowley’s Ridge * West Gulf Coastal Plain

G.1.AH.7-8.2 Identify and map the major rivers of Arkansas G.1.AH.7-8.3 Describe factors contributing to the settlement of Arkansas

G.1.AH.7-8.4 Research the origins of key place names in Arkansas

G.1. AH.7-8.5 Examine the economic effect of Arkansas’ natural resources: * diamonds * bauxite * forestry products * oil

EA.2.AH.7-8.2 Identify significant elements in the success of pre-historic

cultures in Arkansas: * location * food sources

RP.6.AH.7-8.3 Describe the development of manufacturing and industry in

Arkansas using available technology

G.1. AH.9-12.1 Investigate the six geographical land regions of Arkansas: * Ozark Mountains * Ouachita Mountains * Arkansas River Valley * Mississippi Alluvial Plain * Crowley’s Ridge * West Gulf Coastal Plain

G.1.AH.9-12.2 Examine the practical uses of the major rivers in Arkansas

G.1.AH.9-12.3 Analyze factors contributing to the settlement of Arkansas

G.1.AH.9-12.4 Research the origins of key place names in Arkansas

G.1. AH.9-12.5 Examine the economic effect of Arkansas’ natural resources: * diamonds * bauxite * forestry products * oil * lignite * novaculite

EA.2.AH.9-12.2 Examine the significant elements in the success of pre-

historic cultures in Arkansas: * location * food sources

EA.3.AH.9-12.1 Examine the impact of the first European explorers in

Arkansas: * Hernando DeSoto * Robert de LaSalle * Jacques Marquette and Louis Joliet

EA.3.AH.9-12.6 Research the reasons for migration to pre-territorial

Arkansas

RP.6.AH.9-12.3 Examine the development of manufacturing and industry in Arkansas using available technology

School Library Media Learning Expectations: A.4.5.1, A. 4.6.1, A.4.7.1, A.4.8.1, A.4.9.1, A.4.10.1, A.4.11.1, A.4.12.1 – Use resources and/or technology tools for a predetermined task

Related Encyclopedia of Arkansas Entries: Salt making; Prehistoric Caddo; Caddo Nation; Food and Foodways Introduction:

The teacher will select the appropriate student learning expectations for his or her class, review the key terms, and make copies of selected handouts included in the lesson. Collaboration with the school library media specialist for assistance with the utilization of the technology resource tool for Arkansas History is suggested. See above links or visit the online Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture at http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net.

Key Terms:

saline springs seep artifact archeologist saltworks

Cretaceous Period brine commodity saltpan mussel

Key Terms Defined: saline springs: Natural water springs that contain salt.

seep: A spot where water trickles out of the ground to form a pool.

artifact: An object produced or shaped by human craft, especially a tool, weapon, or ornament of archaeological or historical interest.

archaeologist: A scientist who studies prehistoric people and their cultures.

saltworks: A place where salt is produced commercially.

Cretaceous Period: Part of the Mesozoic Era of geologic time, from 144 million to 66 million years ago.

brine: Water containing large amounts of salt.

commodity: An item of value for trade or commerce.

saltpan: A ceramic (baked clay) vessel used by Native Americans to boil brine.

mussel: A fresh water clam found in many Arkansas rivers.

Suggested Time Frame: Three Fifty Minute Class Periods

Materials: • Access to the Internet for student research

• A zip-lock bag of salt • Overhead transparencies of the following figures (all included below):

Y Natural Divisions of Arkansas Showing the Location of the Hardman Site Y Illustration of the Hardman Settlement, Circa 1500 AD Y Arkansas in the Cretaceous Period Y Pioneer Period Vegetation Y Caddo Saltpan Artifacts

Y Salt Kettles Used by European Settlers

Y Caddo Salt-Trading Routes

• A copy of the Lettered Illustration of the Hardman Settlement, Circa 1500 AD for

each student (included below)

Background Information:

The ancestors of the modern Caddo Indians were living in southwest Arkansas by

the time the Spanish under Hernando de Soto arrived in 1542. Unlike many other Native

Americans encountered by de Soto, the Caddo were fierce warriors and fought the Spanish

to a standstill.

The Caddo lands stretched across southwest Arkansas into Louisiana and Texas.

They lived primarily in what is today known as the West Gulf Coastal Plain, in small villages

and farming hamlets. Through the low, rolling hills ran rivers (such as the Red, Caddo, and

Ouachita) sometimes surrounded by bayous and swamps. Bottomland hardwoods and pine

forests covered the region. Wildlife, such as fresh water fish, mollusks, waterfowl, deer, and

other species, was abundant.

The Caddo discovered saline springs and seeps, which were the result of the “Mississippi Embayment,” the ancient gulf coastline that reached the southern edge of the Ouachita Mountains over 66 million years ago. As the ocean water receded, salt water was trapped in certain geological formations. The mining of salt from springs and seeps was an important Caddo industry, giving them a highly valuable product to trade with other Native Americans.

Procedure:

Day One Activities:

INTRODUCTION 1. To introduce the topic of salt and salt production, tell your students you are going to show them a bag of “white gold.” Hold up a zip-lock bag of salt and ask them to guess what it is (without opening it). You can give them the following clues:

./ It was given to Hernando De Soto on his journey through Arkansas.

./ It is a mineral that is extracted from the earth.

./ It is necessary to human life and found naturally in the body. 2. Explain to students that in the 1980s the Arkansas Archeological Survey excavated a site near Arkadelphia and the Ouachita River that was believed to be a Caddo Indian settlement. Among the artifacts archaeologists found were ceramics, the remains of plants and animals, and human bones.

3. Show the overhead transparency of the Natural Divisions of Arkansas Showing the Location of the Hardman Site. (Hardman is on the Saline Bayou in the Ouachita River Valley just east of Arkadelphia. It was named for Mr. Billy Hardman, the owner of the property.) Ask students which of Arkansas’ six natural divisions the Hardman Site is in.

Answer: Hardman is in the West Gulf Coastal Plain.

4. Ask students to describe what they think Hardman Settlement was like in the 1500s. Show the overhead transparency of the Illustration of the Hardman Settlement, Circa 1500 AD by Ed Martin. Tell the students that an artist drew this sketch depicting Caddo life at the settlement based on the artifacts unearthed during the excavation. Ask them to list on paper (or say aloud) some things the people in the picture are doing as part of their daily activities.

Possible responses: getting water, cutting trees for wood, chopping wood, preparing

something over a fire, and grinding.

5. Ask students what else, if anything, they can speculate about the Caddo settlement by

looking at the illustration.

Possible responses: the Caddo’s sources of food, how they use their structures,

modes of transportation, etc.

6. Tell the class that much of the daily activities in the illustration involve the Caddo production of sodium chloride—salt. Hardman was a Caddo saltworks. Ask the students how they think salt came to be where the Caddo lived in what we now call Arkansas, far from any ocean.

7. Show students the overhead transparency of Arkansas in the Cretaceous Period. Ask them what this map shows about Arkansas 144 million to 66 million years ago. Allow time for responses and then explain that the sea advanced into the West Gulf Coastal Plain during the Cretaceous Period. Over time, as the sea receded, some of the seawater was trapped underground. This brine later came to the surface in the form of saline springs and seeps.

Day Two Activities:

CADDO SALT PRODUCTION

Ask the following questions, allow time for responses, and then discuss the answers.

1. “How do you think the Caddo discovered salt?”

The Caddo discovered the springs by tasting the water or finding dried salt around a

seep in the summer, when the heat evaporated the water. They also observed the animals

that were attracted to the seeps to lick the salt. Seeps were natural “salt licks” for deer and

other wildlife of the West Gulf Coastal Plain.

2. “Why was salt a valuable commodity to the Caddo Indians and European settlers in the

1500s and later?”

Salt is used for seasoning food, preserving meat, and in the tanning of hides.

Because of its many uses and the human need for salt, it was an important item for trade.

3. “How do you think the Caddo removed the salt from the brine?”

After the Caddo discovered springs contained brine, they had to find a way to

remove the salt from the brine and allow it to recrystallize as salt. This is done in one of two

ways. The first is by evaporation in the sun; however, this requires long hot, dry periods to

be effective. The Caddo wanted to produce great quantities of salt efficiently, so they chose

the second method—boiling the brine over a fire until the water evaporated.

4. “What were the steps in the Caddo salt-making process?”

* Write the steps on the board or an overhead projector as you discuss them.

Step 1: Find a saline spring by tasting the water or observing animals in the area that are

attracted to the salt.

Step 2: Locate a fuel source and transport the fuel to the saltworks.

* Ask what the Caddo used for fuel, keeping in mind that many fires will be needed to boil

the brine.

Answer: Trees in the area provided the wood. This required a lot of work. Lowland pine and

hardwood oak forests existed around Hardman, but as more and more trees around the

settlement were cut, the Caddo had to travel farther away to find fuel.

* Show the transparency of Pioneer Period Vegetation around Hardman.

Step 3: Make saltpans. The Caddo made saltpans from clay found near springs and

riverbeds. They mixed the clay with crushed mussel shells to harden it and then baked

these ceramic pans. The brine was poured into the pans for boiling over open fires. * Show students the transparency of Caddo Saltpan Artifacts found at Hardman. * Show students the transparency of Salt Kettles Used by European Settlers from the

Arkansas Historical Quarterly. When European settlers came to the area in the 1800s, they used very large iron kettles, or cauldrons, like those in the photos to boil brine.

Step 4: Collect and carry brine to the fire and boil it in saltpans. The sodium forms crystals

before all the liquid is gone, leaving a mush in the pan. The Caddo then put this mush in

other containers or pots to dry into hard salt cakes. If they wanted separate granules of salt

like we use today, they had to break up these larger lumps by pounding them.

Step 5: Store the salt. “Salt houses” were built and used as a place to keep the salt out of

the weather until it was used or traded.

Step 6: Trade the salt. The Caddo Indians used canoes to transport their salt on the Caddo

trade network.

* Show students the transparency of the Caddo Salt-Trading Routes. Students can check

their textbooks to see what possible items the Caddo received in return for the salt they

produced at Hardman.

Day Three Activities:

A SECOND LOOK AT THE HARDMAN SETTLEMENT

1. Distribute copies of the Lettered Illustration of the Hardman Settlement, Circa 1500 AD to

each student. Tell students to study the picture in light of what they have just learned. Ask

for volunteers to interpret the picture and explain the steps in the salt making process.

Answers: A=gather fuel (wood); B=chop the wood for fires; C=collect brine and carry it to

the fires; D=boil the brine in saltpans; E=dry the boiled salt cakes; F=store the salt in a salt

house; G=trade the salt via canoes on the trade network.

2. Explain to students that the Hardman Settlement is a great example of how people make

use of natural resources. Discuss how Caddo salt production impacted the environment.

Evaluation:

Ask questions to check for understanding, referring to the overhead transparencies as

necessary. Have students write a paragraph or two explaining the value of salt to the Caddo

and how they produced it. Ask why “White Gold” would be an appropriate title for their

writing assignments. Use of a teacher prepared rubric or district approved rubric is

suggested.

Extensions: 1. Research salt production in other parts of the world and how it differs from early Caddo production. (See, for example, “Journey to the Heart of the Sahara,” National Geographic Magazine; March, 1999).

2. Map the countries of the world that produce salt today. Research why salt is found in these places.

3. Research and report on the history of using salt to preserve meat.

4. Research and report on the use of salt in tanning by the fur industry in North America.

Sources:

Arkansas Archeological Survey. First Encounters: Native Americans and Europeans in the

Mississippi Valley. Computer software, 2000.

Baker, T. Harri and Jane Browning. An Arkansas History for Young People. Fayetteville:

The University of Arkansas Press, 1997.

Early, Ann M., editor. Caddoan Saltmakers in the Ouachita Valley: The Hardman Site.

Fayetteville: Arkansas Archeological Survey, 1993.

Foti, Thomas and Gerald Hanson. Arkansas and the Land. Fayetteville: University of

Arkansas Press, 1992.

Guccione, M. J. Geologic History of Arkansas Through Time and Space. Fayetteville:

Geology Department, University of Arkansas, 1993.

Littlefield, Daniel F. Jr. “The Salt Industry In Arkansas Territory, 1819-1836” The Arkansas

Historical Quarterly 32:4 (Winter, 1973), pp. 312-336.

Recommended Websites:

The Salt Institute: http://www.saltinstitute.org

The Salt Manufacturers’ Association: http://www.saltinfo.com

These lesson plans are made possible in part through the support of the Arkansas

Humanities Council, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Arkansas Natural

Heritage Commission, and the Bridge Fund at the Arkansas Community Foundation.

The Taylor Foundation (Little Rock, Arkansas) makes Butler Center lesson plans possible. Contact the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies, Central Arkansas Library System, 100 Rock St., Little

Rock, AR, 72201. 501-918-3056 www.butlercenter.org and www.cals.lib.ar.us

1. Natural Divisions of Arkansas Showing the Location of the Hardman Site (black dot).

Adapted from Foti, Thomas and Gerald T. Hanson. Arkansas and the Land Fayetteville;

Universtiy of Arkansas Press, 1992, p. 36.

2. Illustration of the Hardman Settlement, Circa 1500 AD. Courtesy of the Arkansas Archeological Survey.

3. Arkansas in the Cretaceous Period. Courtesy of Margaret J. Guccione.

4. Pioneer Period Vegetation. Courtesy of the Arkansas Archeological Survey.

5. Caddo Saltpan Artifacts. Courtesy of the Arkansas Archeological Survey.

6. Salt Kettles Used by European Settlers. Courtesy of the Arkansas Historical Association.

7. Caddo Salt-Trading Routes. Courtesy of the Arkansas Archeological Survey.

8. Lettered Illustration of the Hardman Settlement, Circa 1500 AD. Courtesy of the

Arkansas Archeological Survey (letters added by author).