08/29/2026
The American fur trade helped shape our nation’s history, opening new trade routes and connecting people across continents. Follow along each Frontier Friday as Clarence Dies brings the people, places, and events of the fur trade to life.
Chapter 24: The U.S.A. Enters the Fur Trade
On July 17, 1763, in Walldorf, a small town near Heidelberg, Germany, a man was born who would come to control the fur trade in the United States and a large part of southern Canada.
John Jacob Astor’s father was a butcher in their hometown, but John did not want that life. He moved to London, where he worked in his uncle’s music shop. As a young man with little money, Astor emigrated to the newly formed United States, arriving in Baltimore in 1784. During the voyage, he often visited with a fellow passenger who was involved in the fur trade. From those conversations, Astor decided to make the fur trade his business as well.
Astor traveled through the backcountry of rural New York carrying a peddler’s pack. He distributed inexpensive tin flutes to his customers and purchased their furs before the pelts could be taken to country stores in the spring. He eventually began wholesaling pelts, and by 1800, he had made a quarter of a million dollars.
The Jay Treaty of 1794 opened additional opportunities for Astor in the fur trade. He was able to purchase furs from Canadian traders at Detroit or Michilimackinac and ship them directly to New York rather than routing them through Montreal. He could also ship directly from Montreal without having to buy furs at auction in London and then transport them back to New York. Astor leased a warehouse in Montreal in which to store the pelts he purchased. To expand his business further, he incorporated the American Fur Company in 1808 under a New York State charter.
The Michilimackinac Company was formed by the North West Company in 1806 to operate south of the Great Lakes in American territory, although its headquarters remained in Montreal. In 1810, the American Fur Company began constructing its own trading posts instead of purchasing pelts from independent traders.
To maintain the Canadian position in the southern Great Lakes, William McGillivray organized a new company, the South West Company, in 1811. Astor was permitted to become a major shareholder because the Canadians believed he would make a better partner than a competitor. This arrangement created a valuable loophole because the companies could use either New York or Montreal to avoid taxes, customs duties, government embargoes, or trade monopolies.
Following the return of the Lewis and Clark Expedition in 1806, reports circulated about the enormous quantity and variety of furs found throughout the mountain country extending to the Pacific Ocean. John Jacob Astor quickly began developing a plan to collect those furs.
By that time, Astor was also involved in the shipping business. It was widely known that some Boston merchants were trading in the Pacific Northwest, particularly with the Russians operating in what is now Alaska. The Russians maintained their headquarters at New Archangel—present-day Sitka—under the leadership of Alexander Baranov. Their primary focus was the highly valuable Pacific sea otter. We will have more to say about this great enterprise in another chapter.
Astor formed a new branch of his fur-trading empire to gain control of this vast region. He named the enterprise the Pacific Fur Company.
The basic plan was to send two parties—one traveling overland and the other by sea—to establish a trading post near the mouth of the Columbia River in the Pacific Northwest. The overland party would establish trading posts along the route, trade with Native tribes, and transport the collected furs to the post on the Columbia River.
The sea party would build the main post, establish trading relationships with Native peoples, and supply the Russians. Astor’s ships would then carry the furs to Canton, China, the only Chinese port open to foreign trade at that time. The ships would transport Chinese goods back to Boston and New York before being reloaded for another voyage to the Pacific Northwest.
In our next chapter, we will complete the story of John Jacob Astor.
What part of John Jacob Astor’s story surprised you most? Tell us in the comments, share this chapter with someone who enjoys American history, and join us next Friday as we complete his remarkable story!
—C. Dies
