Pacific
Fur Company - (en)
The Pacific Fur Company was founded June 23, 1810, in New York City.
Half of the stock of the company was held by the American Fur Company,
owned exclusively by John Jacob Astor, and Astor provided all of the
capital for the enterprise. The other half of the stock was ascribed
to working partners or kept in reserve. In 1811, the company
established a trading post at present-day Astoria, Oregon. Astor's
grand plan included a permanent American settlement at the mouth of
the Columbia River, and a trade ring that included New York, the old
Oregon Country, Russian Alaska, Hawaii and China. Indian trade goods
would be loaded at New York; produce, provisions (and some Hawaiians)
would be taken on at the Hawaiian Islands for the Northwest Coast;
furs and pelts would be acquired from the Columbia and Russian Alaska;
Canton, China was the best market for furs in those years, and they
would be exchanged for porcelain, silk and other cloth, spices, etc.,
which would then be transported, via Hawaii, back to New York. Two
initial expeditions were sent to the Columbia River, one by sea and
the other by land.
The sea expedition was transported by the ship Tonquin, under the
command of Jonathan Thorn, and impatient and hard man. The Tonquin
left New York on September 8, 1810, and arrived at the Columbia River
April 12, 1811 to establish first American outpost on the Pacific
Coast, Fort Astoria (present-day Astoria, Oregon) which was near the
Lewis and Clark 1805-1806 winter camp of Fort Clatsop at the mouth of
the Columbia River.
The Tonquin then sailed up the coast to trade where she was boarded by
Salish Indians, and exploded, killing 61 men with the Pacific Fur
Company.
The Overland Expedition of the Pacific Fur Company, often called the
Astor Expedition or the Hunt Party, or was led by Wilson Price Hunt.
The party ascended the Missouri River as far as the Arikara Villages
near present-day Mobridge, South Dakota, then west west overland. They
found hard times on the Snake River in southern Idaho, where they lost
some goods and most of their food, and were forced to cache the rest
of their trade goods and divided into fractions to make their way to
the Columbia. Most members of the party reached Fort Astoria in
January and February 1812.
After a number of set-backs, the Pacific Fur Company failed when the
supply ship Beaver was late to arrive at Fort Astoria as anticipated.
The fort and all assets in the Oregon Country were sold to the (Canadian)
North West Company in October 1813, under duress during the War of
1812.
