Who was the founder of the American Fur Company?
John Jacob Astor was a merchant of New York City and founder of the American Fur Company. To create a chain of trading stations spread across the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Northwest, he incorporated an AFC subsidiary, the Pacific Fur Company.
Why did John Jacob Astor establish the Pacific Fur Company?
John Jacob Astor established the Pacific Fur Company as part of his grandiose plans to gain commercial hegemony over major fur producing areas in the North American fur trade against his North West and Hudson's Bay competitors. John Jacob Astor was a merchant of New York City and founder of the American Fur Company.
Who were the partners of the Pacific Fur Company?
Fellow partners in the venture were recruited from the NWC, the members being Alexander McKay, David Stuart, Duncan McDougall, and Donald Mackenzie. Astor and the partners met in New York on 23 June 1810 to sign the Pacific Fur Company's provisional agreement.
How long did the Pacific Fur Company last?
The commercial venture was originally designed to last for twenty years. Unlike its major competitor the Canadian owned NWC, the Pacific Fur Company was not a Joint-stock company. Capital for the PFC amounted to $200,000 divided into 100 shares individually valued at $2,000 and was funded entirely by Astor.
Who owned the Pacific Fur Company?
Astor responded by creating the Pacific Fur Company in March and enlisting a group of experienced men as additional partners: three veteran North West Company men—Alexander McKay, Donald McKenzie, and Duncan McDougall—and four Americans—Wilson Price Hunt, Ramsay Crooks, Robert McClellan, and Joseph Miller.
What did the Pacific Fur Company built in 1811?
The first would be the overland route following Lewis and Clark's route to the Pacific Ocean. The other would travel by sea and around Cape Horn to the Pacific Northwest. The venture was fraught with challenges, but succeeded in establishing Fort Astor, later Astoria, OR, in 1811.
What was the Pacific fur trade?
The maritime fur trade was a ship-based fur trade system that focused on acquiring furs of sea otters and other animals from the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast and natives of Alaska.
What was the relationship between the Pacific Fur Company and the American Fur Company?
The Pacific Fur Company was an American fur trade company that operated from 1810 to 1813 in the Pacific Northwest, Founded in June 1810 by John Jacob Astor, half of the stock was held by the American Fur Company, owned exclusively by Astor. The other half was owned by working partners.
Why did the Pacific Fur Company fail?
The emporium envisioned by Astor was a failure for a number of reasons, including the loss of two supply ships, the material difficulties of crossing the North American continent and competition from the North West Company.
Why was Pacific Fur Company less successful than North West Company?
An American firm, the Pacific Fur Company of John Jacob Astor, attempted to conduct trading at posts along the Columbia River between 1811 and 1813, but it lacked the financial resources and national support required to succeed.
When did the fur trade end?
1701In 1701, the French and their allies reached a truce with the Haudenosaunee, known as the Great Peace of Montreal. This effectively ended the Beaver Wars over the fur trade.
When did the fur trade start and end?
The fur trade began in the 1600s in what is now Canada. It continued for more than 250 years.
Does the fur trade still exist today?
The fur trade lives in the 21st Century. Trappers still trap, businesses continue to profit, humans continue to wear fur for both style and warmth.
Who was the founder of the biggest fur company in the United States?
John Jacob AstorAmerican Fur Company, enterprise incorporated in New York state (April 6, 1808) by John Jacob Astor, which dominated the fur trade of the central and western United States during the first third of the 19th century.
What was the name of the major fur trading company operating in the late 1800s?
The American Fur Company (AFC) was founded in 1808, by John Jacob Astor, a German immigrant to the United States. During the 18th century, furs had become a major commodity in Europe, and North America became a major supplier.
Why did trappers want beaver pelts?
When Europeans came to North America, beaver lived in almost every region that had streams and creeks. The newcomers trapped the beaver for its pelt. Its soft under-fur was highly valued for making men's hats. As Europeans and then Americans moved westward, they trapped so much that beaver nearly disappeared.
Which fur Company is primarily associated with the Snake River brigades?
In 1818, the establishment of Fort Nez Perce signaled the commitment of the North West Company to trap in the Snake River region, which HBC later embraced as a "fur desert" policy that aimed to trap out the furs and thereby deter American interest west of the Rocky Mountains.
Why did the Northwest company fail?
In July 1821, under more pressure from the British government, which passed new regulations governing the fur trade in British North America, a merger agreement was signed with the Hudson's Bay Company. By this, the North West Company name disappeared after more than 40 years of operations.
Who founded the fur trading post in Astoria Oregon?
In 1810, Astor sent two expeditions representing his Pacific Fur Company, one by sea and one by land, to establish a fur post at the mouth of the Columbia River.
What company did John Jacob Astor?
the American Fur CompanyWith the permission of President Thomas Jefferson, Astor established the American Fur Company on April 6, 1808. He later formed subsidiaries: the Pacific Fur Company, and the Southwest Fur Company (in which Canadians had a part), in order to control fur trading in the Great Lakes areas and Columbia River region.
Who owns Pacific Fur Company?
Historians have since agreed with Ross, pointing out that the company never lived up to the ambitions set for it by its owner, John Jacob Astor.
Where was the fur outpost in the Pacific Northwest?
Just months after the completion of Fort Astoria and the establishment of fur outposts in the Pacific Northwest—Fort Okanogan (1811) at the confluence of the Okanogan and Columbia Rivers ; Shewaps Post (1812) in present-day Kamloops, British Columbia; Clearwater Post (1812), east of present-day Lewiston, Idaho; and Wallace House (1812), just north of Salem, Oregon—the United States and Great Britain went to war.
When did Astor start Fur Company?
He planned a string of fur forts across the continent and incorporated the American Fur Company in 1808 to pursue his objective; but he failed to gain governmental support. Partners in the Montreal-based North West Company saw opportunity, however, and approached Astor to form a partnership in February 1810.
Who gave the Pacific Fur Company the rights to transport and sell Russian furs from Sitka to China?
While the events on the Columbia unfolded, Astor pursued another leg in his Pacific Fur Company plan by negotiating a trade relationship with Russia in May 1812, which gave the company rights to transport and sell Russian furs from Sitka to China. Astor ’s timing could not have been worse.
Who were the North West Company men?
Astor responded by creating the Pacific Fur Company in March and enlisting a group of experienced men as additional partners: three veteran North West Company men—Alexander McKay, Donald McKenzie, and Duncan McDougall— and four Americans— Wilson Price Hunt, Ramsay Crooks, Robert McClellan, and Joseph Miller. Astor organized two expeditions ...
Who was the company partner in the War of 1812?
News of the War of 1812 reached Fort Astoria in January 1813, when company partner Donald McKenzie arrived from interior posts where North West Company men had passed on copies of the declarations of war.
Who was the captain of the Tonquin?
Capt. Jonathan Thorn sailed the Tonquin from New York in September 1810, with McKay, McDougall, and Robert Stuart aboard, arriving in Hawai’i in February 1811. Thorn and Pacific Fur Company partners hired twelve Hawai’ian natives as laborers before sailing away on March 1. They made the Columbia River on March 22.
Where did the Tonquin ship arrive?
The first sea expedition on the Tonquin left New York in September 1810, stopped at Hawaii where a number of Native Hawaiian laborers were picked up, and arrived at the Columbia River in April 1811, where Fort Astoria was established. The ship then sailed up the Pacific Coast to trade but was taken over by the Tlaoquiaht tribe of Clayoquot Sound, Vancouver Island. The warriors killed 61 men before the ship was blown up by a surviving crew member.
Where was the Pacific Fur Company located?
The Pacific Fur Company was an American fur trade company that operated from 1810 to 1813 in the Pacific Northwest,
What was the purpose of the Pacific Fur Company?
PACIFIC FUR COMPANY, organized by John Jacob Astor in 1810, was the western subsidiary of his American Fur Company and the lynchpin in his plan to control the American fur market. Astor supplied capital up to $400,000 and was to bear all losses for the first five years. He retained 50 percent of the stock and prorated the remainder among several field partners. The firm was to ship sea otter and beaver pelts from Astoria, at the mouth of the Columbia River in Oregon, to Canton, China. There, furs would be exchanged for Chinese goods, which Astor's ships would then deliver to the United States. The wreck of two of the ships, unfortunate management in the field, and the War of 1812 resulted in the failure of the Pacific Fur Company, and Astoria and its equipment were sold by the field partners, at a great sacrifice, to the North West Company.
When was the Fist in the Wilderness published?
Lavender, David. The Fist in the Wilderness. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1979 [1964].
Learn about this topic in these articles
In 1810 Astor organized the Pacific Fur Company as a subsidiary to exploit the fur trade with China by way of the Pacific Northwest. The subsidiary’s major post, Astoria, located at the mouth of the Columbia River in the Oregon Territory, was lost during the War of 1812, thus ending…
relationship to American Fur Company
In 1810 Astor organized the Pacific Fur Company as a subsidiary to exploit the fur trade with China by way of the Pacific Northwest. The subsidiary’s major post, Astoria, located at the mouth of the Columbia River in the Oregon Territory, was lost during the War of 1812, thus ending…
U.S. Timeline - The 1810s
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History Photo Bomb
Sunset at the mouth of the Columbia River, near Astoria, Oregon. Courtesy National Archives.
Timeline Book
Resolution for federal aid from the Missouri Territory during the time of the New Madrid earthquakes in 1811-12. Courtesy National Archives.
ABH Travel Tip
The National Park Service has, over the past several years, announced increases in the entrance fees to several of the most visited National Parks. For a list of those fees, please visit National Park Service and check for the park of your interest.
