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From construction records of the Fort Ridgely and South Pass Wagon Road; Project Superintendent William H. Nobles to Secretary of the Interior Jacob Thompson, Minnesota Territory, June 11, 1857:
"In a long journey where hard work independent of fatiguing travel has to be performed a variety & constant change of diet is
indispensable to preserve the health and cheerfulness of the men and I submit that it is no economy to feed your men on pork & beef
for six months without change. For these prudential reasons I laid in a very small stock of antiscorbutic supplies which your clerk thinks
unnecessary. One pound of codfish at 9 cents will go farther for a breakfast meal than two pounds of pork at 13 1/2 cents and a sardine
or herring when you camp late in the evening will satisfy the appetite far better than uncooked beef or pork, and on a Sunday a few
raisins introduced into a palatable dish with a good plate of macaroni soup go a long ways to preserve cheerfulness without which the
duties are performed reluctantly & less work accomplished."
A list of provisions confirmed the pork, beef, and codfish were, of course, salted. My question is, what is known about "macaroni" in the mid-nineteenth century diet? Was it the macaroni of today and is it (pasta?) used in today's camps? The sardines and herring of 1857 sound like a challenge worth experiencing.
Salt, salt salt; over five-hundred pounds of loose salt accompanied the expedition's seventy-five road builders.
"In a long journey where hard work independent of fatiguing travel has to be performed a variety & constant change of diet is
indispensable to preserve the health and cheerfulness of the men and I submit that it is no economy to feed your men on pork & beef
for six months without change. For these prudential reasons I laid in a very small stock of antiscorbutic supplies which your clerk thinks
unnecessary. One pound of codfish at 9 cents will go farther for a breakfast meal than two pounds of pork at 13 1/2 cents and a sardine
or herring when you camp late in the evening will satisfy the appetite far better than uncooked beef or pork, and on a Sunday a few
raisins introduced into a palatable dish with a good plate of macaroni soup go a long ways to preserve cheerfulness without which the
duties are performed reluctantly & less work accomplished."
A list of provisions confirmed the pork, beef, and codfish were, of course, salted. My question is, what is known about "macaroni" in the mid-nineteenth century diet? Was it the macaroni of today and is it (pasta?) used in today's camps? The sardines and herring of 1857 sound like a challenge worth experiencing.
Salt, salt salt; over five-hundred pounds of loose salt accompanied the expedition's seventy-five road builders.