Astoria and the Birth of Empire

Author(s): James P. Ronda

Source: Montana: The Magazine of Western History, Vol. 36, No. 3 (Summer, 1986), pp. 22-35
Published by: Montana Historical Society
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4518989
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 o{bA^*-*-e

- - -

s.
-

@ v 5=.

--W
Astoria in 1813

ASTORIA
and the
byJames P. Ronda
Nearly two centuriesago the Pacific
Northwest was boththe battlegroundand
theprizein a spiritedstruggleforempire.
Thatcontestpittednativepeopleagainst
abewilderingarray of Europeansand
Americans. Russianfurhunters,Yankee
ship captains, English and Scottish
employees of the NorthWestCompany,
andAmericantrappers-all were partof
abattle for the Far West. Lewis and
Clark's Fort Clatsop was the first
Americanoutpost in that conflict, and it
seemedfor a while that it might be the
last. Federal officials, bogged down in
easterntroubles, did not press the advan-
tagegained by the intrepid captains. In-
stead,it fell to a privatecompany to plant
theAmericanflag at Astoria,at the mouth
ofthe Columbia River.
That enterprise, the Pacific Fur Com-
pany,was the creation of John Jacob
Astor(1763-1848}.Astor, who had come
tothe new American nation from one of
theGerman states in 1784, was by 1810

22
MON
rsNA EE MAGAZINE
OFWESN HISTORY

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~-T - - - .-

-~~~~5

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~-
-

: ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~~~~~~~__
~ ~ ~----~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ C

BIT
of;G EMIR

a growing power in the New York
business world. He was no provincial city
merchant content with old-fashioned
methods and modest profits. Astute and
pragmatic, Astor was ready to experiment
with business techniques not widely used
until the railroad revolution much later
in the century.
Astor's single-minded vision and
boundless energy propelled him into an
international world where personal
profits mixed easily with diplomacy and
national power. Already involved in the
Montreal and western European fur
trades, Astor was now ready to expand
his business interests up the Missouri,
across the Rockies, and beyond the
Pacific to China. But the Pacific Fur Com-
pany was to be more than a business ven-
ture. Thomas Jefferson recognized as
much when he wrote, "if we claim that
country at all, it must be on Astor's set-
tlement near the mouth of the Colum-
bia. "I Like the West it sought to occupy
and exploit, the company had interna-
tional roots. Astor's ideas as well as his
employees were to prove as varied as the
region that now drew his attention.

SUMMER1986 23

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 A been overshadowed by enterprises larger - ~~~~~~~~
and ultimately more successful. Astor had not .0

intended that. The New York entrepreneur

described his company as an undertaking of rA
merit, enterprise, and hazard.2 Jefferson, who 0

once rankedAstor with empire-builderslike Co-

lumbus and Raleigh, undoubtedly agreed with
that assessment. Astoria, he wrote, contained
"the germ of a great, free and independent em-
pire. " 3 Commercial and political empire- n~~~~~~~~~~
building was what John Quincy Adams had in
mind when he described the entire Pacific
Northwest as "the empire of Astoria."4
Behind this lofty rhetoric lay the simple but
elegant idea of Astoria. Astor envisioned a vast be fulfilled by enterprise from New York. All 0

trade network extending from western Europe

0Z
and the American Great Lakes to the Pacific _

Northwest and on to Russian America and

China.The merchantimagined an armyof clerks
markingtheir ledgers and counting his profits, "
The pres-
"tepa alsoteft th grud
not in London and Montreal, but at New York
and St. Louis. In his plan, Pacific Fur Company
posts would stretch from the Missouri to the "the pan fals of tselfto thegroun." Thepresi

Columbia, dotting the route pioneered by dent

thteplrto
who

commercialpassage
hd sent
fro
Lews
toIndia
Monticello
was
and Clar
was
ow
to
about
informe
find0
to
Lewis and Clark. And all might be done, Astor thatexporaton rom ontcell wa abot t
claimed, in the name of national interest. be
hand.
flfiled
Tereseemd y eterpisefromNewYork
ltt .
nedt0pl
u Al
h

American expansion and the fur trade would be was needed was
was "the
"the approbation of~~~~~~0
of~~n
that
that was needed
approbation
joined in one powerful combination. Astorfilled government." Offerig few details, Ast0

his proposals with an imperial logic so irresist-

ible that he felt sure the venture would become
"the Key to a Vast Country."5 puritten.Clinton7earlier, without federalsupport
How that key would turn in the continental John WresleyJars)
(oi byin
JondeJacobgAestore
lock was not soon apparent. In three important
letters written between January 1808 and May
traeofthespresident" inthfollowricng
Writingfu
1809, Astor slowly clarified the outlines of his spoked and cather
lesslofestokspl
month.AToere byJony Westor
plan. He courted his correspondents carefully, puous traders (shorthn
(oil rival)
andvmoreabroutl powltcl essenatioals Asvaheahad
making slightly different overtures to each. To supor
witoen Cintdfonealir
u winthutreeraylacn
New YorkCity MayorDe WittClinton in January ofitsel tohe andsok Thoeprei-at
grouand."
frallssout,sso
wouldhb kepto
"xthenplan chartersonsepnins
he sent a letter filled with details of finance and berelizdcatesnoials. to the publi
drandmsrabould
capital formation. Astor believed that a state commecaly peassae touIndiweassunowinformed
charter would give the Pacific Fur Company a
certain official status, if only on paper. As thatows neededs wsotasd "the approAstion ofal
sometime member of the state senate and lieu- govlernment. offeringJefewsn'detpails,onAsto
tenant governor, Clinton was plainly in a posi- his
cleaimedthatd comanyzewatocstaoth public-siie
tion to help, and his political support would be pundrtakin
detndt7rn tegetrpr
useful in pursuing the charter. And of course
Clinton's uncle George, then vice-president,
might prove a valuable ally if Astor sought direct
access to Thomas Jefferson.6

1. Thomas Jefferson to John Melish, Monticello, December 31,

1816, Jefferson Papers, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 2. Astor to Ramsay Crooks, New York, September 14, 1814, T. C.
[LC]. Elliott Collection, Oregon Historical Society, Portland.

24

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 letter to De
Witt Clinton and the American Fur Company,
Astor's other trading venture, had obtained the
desired New Yorkstate charter.Although Astor
had not abandonedhis internationalvision, the
Pacific Fur Company was still a paper dream.
The strategyAstor outlined to Gallatinwas both
sophisticated and comprehensive. He proposed
a land and sea transportation system to shift
goods, pelts, information,and personnel around
a globalmarketplace.Heavytradegoods and furs
would move from Europe and East Coast ports
to the Northwest and on to the Chinese port of
Canton.Lighteritems, company employees, and
express dispatches would travel overland to
western posts.
rrom its beginnings in the 1780s, the
fur business of the Pacific Northwest
was a coastal trade. Ships from Boston or
Bristol sailed along the coast trading iron pots
and hardware for sea otter pelts. Those pelts
were then taken to the Canton market to pur-
chase tea, textiles, and china dishware. Astor's
first venture into that maritime fur trade came
in 1809 when he sent CaptainJohn Ebbets and
the ship Enterpriseto the Northwest coast. But
as he reportedto Gallatin,even beforedetails for
Ebbets's voyage were complete, a second Astor
vessel had been directed "to fix a post at or very
near the mouth of the Columbia." Astor also
began preparationsto send an overlandpartyup
the Missouri in the spring of 1810. Astor in-
structed that contingent, led by Astor's chief
field agent Wilson Price Hunt (1783?-1842), to
"establish a chain of posts to the Rocky Moun-
tains to meet the traderswho will be travelling
East from the mouth of the Columbia."
As he read the letter, Gallatin could not have
missed the careful thought Astor had given to
both the size of each expedition and the
nationality of their members. Some fifty traders
were to be based along the Columbia and at
3. Jeffersonto Astor, Monticello, November 9, 1813, Jefferson
Papers,LC.ForAstor'sapproachto governmentsupportforhis
Great Lakes activities, see Thomas Rosenblum, "Pelts and
Patronage:The RepresentationsMadeby JohnJacobAstorto the
FederalGovernmentRegardinghis FurTradeInterestsin the Old
Northwest, 1808-1818," in Rendezvous: Select Papers of the
FourthNorthAmericanFurTradeConference,1981, ed. Thomas
C. Buckley(St. Paul,Minnesota:NorthAmericanFurTradeCon-
ference, 1984), 63-71.
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by Lewis and Clark through the northern
Rockies. Astor consistently promotedthe Pacific
FurCompanyas an Americanresponse to Anglo-
Canadian challenges. While recognizing the
need for skilled Canadian hands, he promised
to hire mostly young Americans "of respectable
connections and of good moral character." As
mattersturned out, Astor would have reason to
wish he had more nearly kept that promise.
Both Clinton and Jeffersonreceived short ser-
mons from Astor on the text of government-
company relations. But it was to Gallatin, al-
ready a supporter of American economic
nationalism, that Astor sent full chapter and
verse on federal backing for the Astorian enter-
prise. Lettersto the mayorand the president had
only hinted at the nature of official "approba-
tion," but Astor made it clear to the secretary
that the word implied a close working relation-
ship. Astor smoothly assured Gallatin that no
steps would be taken "without the knowledge
of government." Wrappinghis private affairsin
the cloak of national interest, the merchant
declared his intention "to act as much as possi-
ble with its [the United States'] wishes." It was
a self-indulgentand largelytransparentploy, but
Gallatin evidently did not blink.
Playing on a growing personal friendship
with the secretary, Astor now made three
politely phrased requests. Knowing that the
Pacific Fur Company might spark a less than
friendly reaction from Montreal and London,
Astor wanted some kind of official standing for
his firm. If Astorians were to be at risk, they
should be seen as agents of the United States,
not as mere employees of a private citizen. But
even to Gallatin, Astor was imprecise about the
nature of the official status he sought for his
enterprise. Astor also fretted about a new
western rival, the St. Louis, Missouri Fur Com-
pany. With powerfulbackerslike the Chouteaus,
William Clark, Meriwether Lewis's brother
Reuben, and Manuel Lisa, the company could
muster strong political influence. Did this com-
4. Charles F. Adams, ed., The Memoirs of John Quincy Adams, 12
vols. (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Co., 1874-1877), 4:94.
5. Astor to William Jones, New York, August 8, 1813, Astor Papers,
Western Americana Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and
Manuscript Library, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut.
6. Astor to De Witt Clinton, New York, January 25, 1808, De Witt
Clinton Papers, 4:5-6, Butler Rare Book and Manuscript Library,
Columbia University, New York.
7. Astor to Jefferson, New York, February 27, 1808, Jefferson
Papers, LC.
25
And finally, there was the difficult matterof the
federalIndianfactorysystem. Thattrademonop-
oly, long a mainstay of government Indian
policy, stood squarely in the path of the Pacific
FurCompany.How to oppose and dismantlethe
factory system troubled Astor for years. Astor's
arguments, observations, and demands evi-
dently impressed the shrewd Gallatin, for he
eventually became one of the entrepreneur's
most reliable allies. For now, the secretary
scrawled a note at the bottom of the letterurging
President James Madison to read the proposal
and pass it on to Secretary of War William
Eustis.8
What inspired the plans Astor presented to
Clinton, Jefferson,and Gallatin?What were the
origins of the ideas of Astoriaand the Pacific Fur
Company? Ideas, like people, have pedigrees
that often surprise the searcher. This is the
genealogy of a powerful idea-an idea harness-
ing exploration, expansion, and private gain to
the fur business in a struggle for empire beyond
the GreatDivide. The question seems a simple
one.
The traditional answer came from the
Astorians themselves and through their famous
chronicler, Washington Irving. In their view, it
was the discoveries of Lewis and Clarkthat first
sparked Astor's endeavor. Even Canadian
Astorians like GabrielFranchereand Alexander
Ross emphasized Astor's debt to Jefferson's
westering captains.9 But it was the western
historian BernardDeVoto who gave fullest ex-
pression to this version when he wrote that
"Astoriafollowed from the expedition of Lewis
and Clarkas the flight of an arrow follows the
release of the bow string."10From-captains-to-
capitalist has the allure of chronological sym-
metry and national pride, but the truth is not so
tidy. The earliest impulses toward this western
fur empire spring from neither the canny Astor
nor the adventurous Lewis and Clark.
8. Astor to AlbertGallatin,New York, May 16, 1809, The Albert
GallatinPapers,New-YorkHistoricalSociety,New York.Details
of Astor's first venture in the Northwestcoast fur trade can be
found in Astorto Ebbets,Philadelphia,November1809, in Ken-
neth W. Porter,JohnJacobAstor Business Man, 2 vols. (Cam-
bridge: HarvardUniversity Press, 1931), 1:431-432; Astor to
AleksandrA. Baranov,New York, November4, 1809, in Nina
N. Bashkinaand David F. Trask,eds., The United States and
Russia: The Beginningsof Relations, 1765-1815 (Washington,
D.C.: GovernmentPrinting Office, 1980), 603-604.
Journalof a Voyageon the NorthWestCoast
9. GabrielFranche're,
of NorthAmericaDuringthe Years1811, 1812, 1813, and 1814,
ed. W. Kaye Lamb (Toronto:The ChamplainSociety, 1969),
42-43; WashingtonIrving, Astoria; or, Anecdotes of an Enter-
26
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America, extending north to Peter
Pond's Athabascacountry and west to the
coastalprobingsof CaptainJamesCook.Nearthe
end of the centurythey maybe foundreaching
backtowardMontrealto entanglethe lives of
hardyNor'westersAlexanderHenrythe Elder,
Duncan McGillivray,Alexander Mackenzie,
and, much by chance, the rising New Yorker
JohnJacobAstor. Two signal events in 1778
markedthe realbeginningsof the Astoriaidea.
PeterPond(1740-1807)crossedMethyePortage
in present-daynorthernSaskatchewanto open
up the fur-richAthabascacountry,andCaptain
JamesCook (1728-1779)discoveredwhat he
thoughtto be a majorriveralong the Alaskan
coast.
Pond was no strangerto distantvoyagesof
discovery and exploration.Henry Hamilton,
lieutenantgovernorof Canada,once described
him as having "a passion for making dis-
coveries."'" Bornin Milford,Connecticut,on
January18, 1740, Pond was apprenticedto a
shoemakerbut soon abandonedthe bench and
awl for servicein the provincialmilitia during
the Frenchand IndianWar.At the war's end,
a sea voyage to the West Indies broughtPond
more adventure,and in 1765 he began what
would be a twenty-three-year careeras a trader
and explorer. Trading first on the upper
Mississippi,Pondwas soonattracted to themore
promisingterritoriesin present-dayManitoba
and Saskatchewan.Along with otherindepen-
denttraders,who werecalled"thepedlarsfrom
Quebec,"Pond challengedthe Hudson'sBay
Companyand studiedthe geographyof the far
northernfrontier.By the time he left the north
forthe lasttime in 1788, Pondhad a reputation
for violent behavior as well as geographic
curiosity.Fewmencouldmatchthe experience
andknowledgeof thisConnecticutYankeegone
west. 12
At the same time Pond and his men were
strugglingacrossMethyePortage,morethan a
thousand miles to the west a weary Captain
prise Beyond the Rockies, ed. Edgeley W. Todd (Norman:
University of OklahomaPress, 1964 [1836]), 28-30; Alexander
Ross, Adventuresof the First Settlerson the Oregonor Colum-
bia River,ed. JamesP. Ronda (Lincoln:Universityof Nebraska
Press, 1986 [1849]), 34-37.
10. BernardDeVoto,The Courseof Empire(Boston:Houghton,Mif-
flin Company,1952), 539. KennethW. Porter,Astor's most re-
cent scholarlybiographer,suggested a link to the Canadiansin
Montrealbut never followed up the leads. See Porter,Astor,
1:170.
11. HenryHamiltonto the Colonial Office, Quebec, April 9, 1785,
C.. 42/47/pp. 667-668, Public RecordOffice, London [PRO].

Crossing Methye Portage (engraving by George Back)
JamesCook pressed his search for the Northwest
Passage. In late May, his ships Resolution and
Discovery, sailing along the Alaskan coast,
enteredan opening northof the KenaiPeninsula.
The shape of that opening seemed to fit prevail-
ing assumptions aboutthe passage. Afterseveral
days of probing, Captain Charles Clerke of the
Discovery characterizedthe waterway as "a fine
spacious river . .. but a cursed unfortunate one
for us." Cook agreed that the river was probably
not the passage, but like Clerke he thought it
stretcheddeep into the interiorand would some-
day serve as "a very extensive inland com-
munication. "13 It was not until 1794-fifteen
years after Cook's death-that Captain George
Vancouverfound Cook's River to be a dead end,
now properly known as Cook's Inlet. But
throughoutthe 1780s, published accounts of the
final Cook voyage kept the illusion alive.14
12. Peter Pond's recollections for the years 1740-1775 are printed
in CharlesM. Gates,ed., Five Fur Tradersof the Northwest(St.
Paul: Minnesota Historical Society, 1965), 18-59. Subsequent
pages of the Pond narrativewere destroyed as waste paper
sometime during the nineteenth century. Also valuable for
Pond'scareerareDanielFrancis,Battlefor the West:FurTraders
and the Birth of WesternCanada (Edmonton,Alberta:Hurtig
Publishers,1982), 42-47;HaroldA. Innis, PeterPond FurTrader
and Adventurer(Toronto:Irwin and Gordon, 1930); Henry R.
Wagner,PeterPond FurTraderand Explorer(New Haven:Yale
University Library,1955). W. Stewart Wallace's essay "Was
Peter Pond a Murderer?"in his The Pedlars from Quebec
(Toronto:The RyersonPress, 1954), 19-26, discusses the violent
side of Pond's nature.
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0
CD
Speculationaboutthe course and use of the river
intensified with the rapid growth of the fur trade
between the Northwest coast and China. Cook's
mysterious river and the immense profits made
selling pelts at Cantontantalized ambitious men
like Peter Pond and his sometime companion
Alexander Henry the Elder.
While fellow Yankees and veterans of Cook's
voyage, John Ledyard (1751-1789) and Simon
Woodruff (fl. 1800), plotted trips between
Boston, NootkaSound, and China, Pond took up
the Cook'sRiverchallenge. Justhow Pond heard
about Cook's River remains something of a
puzzle. He may have read an early account of
Cook's voyage or he may have learned about the
river from Alexander Henry, recently back from
a trip to London. Whatever the source, news
about Cook's River sparkedPond's imagination.
In the late 1770s, Pond had heard about rivers
13. J. C. Beaglehole, ed., The Journalsof CaptainJamesCook. The
Voyageof the "Resolution"and "Discovery, " 1776-1780, part
1 (Cambridge:The HakluytSociety, 1967),cxxviii, 367. See also
Glyndwr Williams, "Myth and Reality: James Cook and the
Theoretical Geographyof North America," in Captain James
Cook and His Times, ed. Robin Fisher and Hugh Johnston
(Seattle: University of WashingtonPress, 1979), 59-80.
14. John Ledyard,A Journalof Captain Cook's Last Voyage to the
PacificOceanand in Questof a NorthwestPassage,betweenAsia
and America, ed. JamesK. Munford (Corvallis:Oregon State
UniversityPress, 1963 [17831),80-81; JohnRickman,Journalof
Captain Cook's Last Voyage to the Pacific Ocean (London:
E. Newbery, 1781), 253.
27

Captain James Cook
flowingwest fromLakeAthabascato the sea. He
was now convincedthatone of thoseriverswas
the one Cook had explored. Wintering at
Athabascain 1784, Pond beganto put his no-
tions down in cartographicform.Thatearliest
sketchis now lost, buta maphe draftedthe next
yearcontainedall its essentialfeatures.In fact,
almostall the Pondmapsexpressthe sameop-
timistic vision: that Lake Athabascaand the
GreatSlaveLakeformgiantwaterreservoirsfor
the entire Northwest.Pond imagined several
greatriversradiatingfromtheselakeslikespokes
in a wheel towardthe northandwest. His 1785
map depictsCook'sRiverstrikinginland from
the Pacificwhile severalAthabascawaterways
flow west to join it. Pond'slast mapshows that
by 1789 all this wishful thinkinghad become
conviction. Cook's River appearsas a direct
water link between GreatSlave Lakeand the
PacificCoast.l5
15. Reproductionsof Pond's maps can be found in Wagner,Pond,
map portfolio.Wagnerdoes not reprintthe Pond map published
in 1790 by Gentleman'sMagazine.
16. NorthWestCompanyto GeneralFrederickHaldimand,Montreal,
October 4, 1784, M.G. 11, Q Series, vol. 24-2, pp. 405-408,
Public Archives of Canada,Ottawa.
17. PeterPond, "A MapPresentedto Congress,New York,1 March
1785," in Wagner, Pond, map 1.
28
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Benjaminand JosephFrobisherdeclaredtheir
readinessto test Pond'stheoriesby sendingout
an expedition.Onlythe lackof officialsupport
restrainedthem or so theyclaimed.l6In spring
1785, Pond launched his own personalcam-
paign to win governmentfinancingto explore
Cook'sRiver;which governmentmadelittledif-
ference.Earlyin Marchhe presenteda petition
to the ContinentalCongress in New York.
Althoughthepetitionis now lost, a detailedmap
of the Northwestthataccompaniedthe petition
has survived. Sensitive to his Americanau-
dience, Pondrepackagedhis originalproposal,
shiftinghis east-westriversystemfarthersouth.
AlthoughPondtailoredthe cartography fornew
customers,his messageremainedthe same.Ex-
ploringdistantriversand buildingposts to the
Pacificpromisedto bring the wealth of China
and a lucrativewesterndomain surelyprizes
enoughto tempta youngrepublic.ButCongress,
strugglingto secureindependenceso soon after
a costly war, had no time for such visionary
schemes.l7
Rebuffedby the Americans,Pond headed
backto Montrealanda meetingwith Lieutenant
GovernorHenry Hamilton.In that interview,
Pond stressedthe economic and imperialim-
plicationsof his proposalsandwarnedthattime
was movingagainstBritishinterests."Positive
information"from Indians had confirmeda
growing Russian presence on the Northwest
coast, and certainNew Englandsources had
claimedthat Bostonmerchantswere preparing
two ships for the coastal fur trade and the
marketsof China.Pond's intelligencewas ac-
curate. Russian traders, led by Gregory
Shelikhov (1747-1795),were eager to expand
their influence.In 1799, Shelikhov'sheirs and
rivals created the powerful, semi-official
Russian-American Company.Americanswere
equally aggressive. The Columbiaand Lady
Washingtonwere just the first two ships in a
growingfleet headedfromBostonoutto Pacific
waters. That maritimethrust, combinedwith
newly drawnGreatLakesborders,stoodto give
the Americansan advantagein any strugglefor
controlof the Northwest.Nevermind thatjust
a monthbeforePondwas readyto aid and abet
18. HenryHamiltonto the Colonial Office, Quebec, April 9, 1785,
C.O. 42/47/pp. 667-668, PRO.See also NorthWest Companyto
Hamilton,Quebec,April 18, 1785, C.O.42147/pp.649-651,PRO.
The map Pond gave to Hamiltoncan be found in Wagner,Pond,
map 2.
 01-
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lg

. ...... ....

gr

..........

P 2:4;- co

Ti
co

j xU::

2U

ga.
"96

CD

Mg

Peter Pond's map of the Northwest, 1789

that thrust! What Pond proposed in April 1785 xIA Tater connections, moneyfrom
was a plan to steal a march on both the tJ Ja national treasury, dreams of
Americans and the Russians. The North West W V wChina, and tradingposts stretching
Company,backed by crown sanction and funds, acrosstheNorthwest-thesewerethe fundamen-
would seize a western empire for Britain, ex- tals of Pond's imperialgeography.They were
plore the Cook's Riverroute to the sea, and con- also the roots of Astoria.But Pond'sunsavory
struct a chain of posts from the Atlantic to the reputation-he had been implicated in the
Pacific. Fromthose posts Britaincould dominate murdersof two traders-madehim an unlikely
the fur trade, strengthen Indian alliances, and candidateto pursuethe vision.His mostpromis-
defeat imperial rivals. Pond's scheme could also ing studentin fur-tradegeopolitics,Alexander
recover the honor and initiative lost in the re- Mackenzie(1764-1820),had no such handicap.
cent colonial rebellion. As Pond, or some more The master'srole as mentorto the youngerex-
literateNorth West Companyamanuensis put it, ploreras they winteredat Athabascain 1787 is
the plan "will be productive of GreatNational well known.19 Both of Mackenzie's great
Advantages." It was a phrase Astor would have voyages,to the ArcticOceanin 1789andto the
admired. Forceful as ever, Pond kept insisting Pacific Oceanin 1792-1793,rested on Pond's
that without royal encouragementhis passage to
19. W. Kaye Lamb, ed., The Journals and Letters of Sir Alexander
India might "very soon fall prey to the enter- Mackenzie (Cambridge, England: The Hakluyt Society, 1970),
prizes of other Nations."18 11-12.

29

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to disparage Pond's reputation, there can be no
doubt that the old Yankee trader was what
Lieutenant Governor Hamilton called him: a
man filled with "a passion for making
discoveries." It was Pond's passion and ideas
that inspired both the North West Company's
Columbian Enterprise and Astor's Pacific Fur
Company.
Pond's influence was plainly evident in
September1794 when Mackenziewas returning
from his epic trek to the Pacific. Meeting with
Lieutenant Governor John Graves Simcoe at
Niagara,the explorerpresenteda grandprogram
aimed at nothing short of "the entire command
of the fur tradeof NorthAmerica." Likehis men- 1''

tor, Mackenzie knew that the plan meant play-

ing forhigh stakesin an imperialcontest. If Pond
outlined the grand strategy, Mackenzie filled in
the tactical details. Both agreed that Britainhad
to field a single government-fundedcompany to
meet Russian and American competition. Pond
thought in terms of monies channeled directly _~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
to the North West Company, but Mackenzie ad-
vanced a bolder plan-the kind of scheme that
would have appealed to Astor. He proposed the
mergerof the NorthWestCompanyand the Hud- -~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ X

son's Bay Company. As Mackenzie saw it, the 0-

new conglomeratewould be blessed with abun-

dant capital and unrivaled power. Furs fromthe
Northwest would move swiftly to Pacific Coast
ports along an efficient transport system based
at Hudson Bay instead of the American-
dominated Great Lakes. One post would be
established at Cook's River with a second
somewhere to the south. Years later, Mackenzie
selected a site at the mouth of the Columbia
River for that second trading house. Like Pond,
Mackenzie was dazzled by the heady prospect
of bumper profits in the Canton market. But as
Canadian fur merchants knew all too well, the
BritishEastIndiaCompanytrademonopoly kept
China closed to them. Mackenzie doubted that
the company monopoly would soon end, but he
did hope to secure a license to bring furs directly
from the Northwest to Canton.20
Throughoutthe next fifteen years Mackenzie
zealously pursued the grand design he called
20. Mackenzieto Simcoe, York,September10, 1794, in Lamb,Jour-
nals and Lettersof Mackenzie,455-456. See also Simcoe to the
PrivyCouncilforTradeand Plantations,York,early September
1794, in E. A. Cruikshank,ed., TheCorrespondenceof Lt.Gover-
nor John Graves Simcoe, with Allied Documents, 5 vols.
(Toronto:OntarioHistoricalSociety, 1923-1931), 3:68-69.
Sir Alexander Mackenzie
"my favorite project." In petition after petition
he sought crown support for ventures he
variously titled the ColumbianEnterpriseor the
Fisheryand FurCompany.Regardlessof the cor-
porate name, the message remained the same
and the results were depressingly the same as
well. Mackenzie received polite hearings at the
Colonial Office in London but never saw his
words become actions.21
Mackenzie's project failed to gain official
status, but it eventually became partof the North
West Company's strategy for expansion west of
the Rockies. After Mackenzie left the company
21. Mackenzie to Lord Hobart, London, January 7, 1802, in Lamb,
Journals and Letters of Mackenzie, 503-507; Mackenzie to John
Sullivan, Montreal, October 25, 1802, ibid., 509-511; Macken-
zie to Viscount Castlereagh, London, March 10, 1808, ibid.,
516-519; Mackenzie to the Board of Trade, April 1810, ibid., 516.
The 1810 petition was a copy of the 1808 memorial, with added
anti-American sentiments. See also Barry M. Gough, "The North
West Company's 'Adventure to China,' Oregon Historical
Quarterly 76 (December 1975): 309-331.
22. Arthur S. Morton, ed., The Journal of Duncan McGillivray of
the North West Company, 1794-1795 (Toronto: Macmillan of
Canada, 1929), 65.

30

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tion. No morethan a young companyclerkwhen
Mackenzie first proposed his ambitious plans,
McGillivray as early as 1795 saw the value of
uniting the North West Company and the Hud-
son's Bay Company for the "general utility" of
both.22 In 1801, he promoted a preliminary but
unsuccessful western journey by JamesHughes
and David Thompson and sometime before his
death in 1808, he wrote his own statement on
the value of the Pond-Mackenzieplan. Preparing
material for what would become a company
pamphlet, McGillivray insisted that company
partners were committed to Pacific goals. The
North West Company had already established
Rocky Mountain House on the North Saskat-
chewan Riverin present-dayAlberta,and Simon
Fraserwas busy finishing majorexplorations in
the Northwest. The Lewis and Clarkexpedition
and the policies of an expansionist American
president gave new urgency to the company's
drive to the Pacific. "Should the Company suc-
ceed in this project," McGillivrayreasoned, "a
new field will be open for the consumption of
British manufacturedgoods; and a vast country
and population made dependent on the British
Empire.9'23
n all of this it is easy to lose trackof Astor
f and the Pacific Fur Company, but the path
from New York to Montreal runs straight
and true. The New Yorkmerchanthad long done
business in Montreal,and he may have made his
firstfur-buyingtrip to that city in the fall of 1787.
It is certain that he was busy buying furs there
in 1788.24 Fromthen on, Astor became a regular
part of the Montreal business world, visiting
there each fall to purchase skins and pelts.
23. Duncan McGillivray, "Some Account of the Trade carried on
by the North West Company, 1808," Report of the Public Ar-
chives of Canada, 1928 (Ottawa: F. A. Acland, 1929), 70-71. See
also Marjorie W. Campbell, The North West Company (Toronto:
Macmillan of Canada, 1957), 166-169; Frederic W. Howay, ed.,
"David Thompson's Account of his First Attempt to Cross the
Rockies," Queen's Quarterly 40 (August 1933): 333-356; Richard
Glover, ed., David Thompson's Narrative 1784-1812 (Toronto:
The Champlain Society, 1962), xlvii; Arthur S. Morton, "The
North West Company's Columbian Enterprise and David Thomp-
son," Canadian Historical Review 17 (June 1936): 270. An im-
portant summary of Canadian attitudes toward American
exploration and expansion is Simon McGillivray, "Statement
relative to the Columbia River and Adjoining Territory on the
Western Coast of the Continent of North America, 1815," F.O.
12/123/pp. 186-190, PRO.
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family on business trips, soon enjoyed invita-
tions to dine with prominent members of the
North West Company. One of his hosts was
Joseph Frobisher, partnerwith Peter Pond and
one of the founding Nor'westers. Opportunities
to attend gala dinners at the Beaver Club soon
followed.25Astor was so fully accepted in Mon-
treal fur society that when the North West Com-
pany sought ways around the China monopoly
held by the East India Company, he was con-
sidered as a possible partnerin the concern. And
at least once in 1798 Mackenzie and Astor had
business and social dealings in New York.26At
a time when Montreal and its merchants were
filled with talk about the Rocky Mountains,
western rivers, and the China trade, Astor was
there to hear it all. He could not have escaped
an atmosphere so charged with the exciting
visions of men like Pond and Mackenzie.
Astor's business and social contacts in Mon-
trealwere essential in the birthof the Pacific Fur
Company. Talk in the Frobisherdining room or
at the Beaver Club amounted to Astor's semi-
formaleducationin fur-tradegeography,but that
talk was not the most powerful influence on
Astor's western enterprise.AlexanderHenrythe
Elder (1739-1824) provided that influence. Like
Pond, Henry was an expatriate American. He
was born in New Jerseyin 1739, and beyond the
fact that he received a sound education and had
some earlybusiness connections in Albany, little
is known of Henry's youth. In 1760, at the end
of the French and Indian War, he joined British
forces bound for Canada. With no dreams of
military glory, Henry hoped to gain entrance to
the western fur trade, long a preserve of French
traders.Forthe next sixteen yearsHenrywas one
of the "pedlarsfromQuebec," searchingfor new
fur regions and challenging the Hudson's Bay
Company. He traveled with Peter Pond and
shared winter quarterswith Joseph and Thomas
Frobisher.He recounted these dramaticyears in
24. Fur Trade Agreementbetween John JacobAstor and Rosseter
Hoyle, Montreal,September30, 1788, NotarialRecordsof John
GerbandBeek, CN 601-296, Archives nationales Du Quebec a
Montreal[ANQ];Porter,Astor, 1:30-31.
25. Journalof JosephFrobisher,September8, 1806, Astor Papers,
Box 42, BakerLibrary,HarvardUniversity GraduateSchool of
Business Administration,Boston; Porter,Astor, 1:66, 171.
26. JamesHallowellto SimonMcTavish,Montreal,August21, 1794,
in GraceP. Morris,ed., "Some Lettersfrom 1792-1800 on the
China Trade," OregonHistorical Quarterly42 (March1941):
54-55; Mackenzie to McTavish, Fraser, and Co., New York,
January30, 1798, in Lamb,Journalsand Lettersof Mackenzie,
463.
31
1776.27
AlexanderHenrywas morethanan itinerant
traderwho happenedto writean engagingbook
abouthis exploits. LikePond, Henrybecamea
fur-tradestrategistand a student of western
geography.He first recordedhis thoughtson
those subjectsin July 1776 as he and his part-
nerspreparedto leavetheirBeaverLaketrading
post.FromtaLkswithChipewyanIndians,Henry
beganto picturethe geographicalrelationships
among western lakes and rivers, the Rocky
Mountains,and the PacificOcean.His Indian
sourcesexplainedthatLakeAthabascawas the
heartof a riversystemthatranto the easternface
of the Rockiesandthatthe distancebetweenthe
mountainsand the ocean was "not great."28
Henrycould not follow up this piece of conjec-
turalgeography,butthe imagesof rivers,moun-
tains, and an ocean temptingly close would
remainin his mind.
In the fall of 1776, Henryleft the Northwest
for a business trip that would eventuallytake
him to England andFrance.In Englandhe met
SirJosephBanks(1743-1820),a giftednaturalist
and geographerwho was once describedby an
Englishexploreras "the commonCenterof we
discoverers."29 Moreimportant,Bankswas the
most prominentscientist associatedwith the
Cook voyages. Banks and Henry became
friends HenrydedicatedTravelsand Adven-
turesto Banks andthis friendshipgaveHenry
accessto the mostrecentgeographicinformation
aboutNorthAmerica.Like Pond, Henrysoon
becamefascinatedby Cook'sRiver.Conversa-
tionswith Pondduringthe winterof 1779-1780
andagainin the summerof 1781sharpenedboth
men's geographicthinking. In the fall of that
year,Henrywas readyto puthis thoughtsabout
western explorationand expansionon paper.
Writingto Banks,he presenteda detailedplan
for the exploration of rivers west of Lake
Athabasca.Knowing Banks's interest in the
economicsof empire,Henryarguedthatsuchan
expedition would "fetch large Profits & a
27. AlexanderHenry, Travels and Adventures in Canada and the
Indian Territoriesbetween the Years 1760 and 1776 (1809;
reprint, Edmonton: Hurtig Publishers, 1969). There is con-
siderableHenrybusinesscorrespondencein Milo M. Quaife,ed.,
The lohn Askin Papers, 2 vols. (Detroit:Detroit LibraryCom-
mission, 1928).
28. Henry, Travels and Adventures, 331-332.
29. James King to Banks, October 1780, in David Mackay, "A
Presiding Genius of Exploration: Banks, Cook, and Empire,
1767-1805," in Fisher and Johnston,Cook and His Times, 29.
32
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cO
o
CD
o
o
D
pa
c
:r
Yo
Alexander Henry the Elder
ValuableNew Commerce."Henry'slettercon-
tainedprecisetravelinstructionsand a careful
estimateof boththe cost and personnelneeded
forthe reconnaissance.Reflectingthe Indianin-
formationpickedup at BeaverIAkeyearsbefore,
he confidentlypredictedthatonceon a riverout
of LakeAthabasca,"it can't be any very great
distanceto the Pacific."30
Drawingon commonsourcesfor inspiration
andinformation,HenryandPondweredevelop-
ing similarideasandstzategies.WhilePondwas
busy in 1785 tryingto sell his dreamsin New
Yorkand Montreal,Henrycompletedwhat he
called "my scheme for the NorthwestCoastof
America."Writingto New Yorkbusinessman
WilliamEdgar,Henryclaimedthata Chinatrade
fromthe mouthof Cook'sRiverwould "receive
more profits than from all the upper posts."
Edgar, who later became an Astor business
associatein the AmericanFur Company,had
beenpreparingto investin shippingventuresto
China. Henrycounseled patience, explaining
that his plans would be less costly and ul-
timatelymoreprofitable.3lA year later,Henry
30. Henry to Banks, Montreal, October 18, 1781, in LawrenceJ.
Burpee,The Searchfor the WesternSea (Toronto:The Musson
BookCompany, 1908), 578-587. See also Innis, Pond, 82, 129.
In 1781, Henry was not certain that the western river he had
heardaboutfromIndiansources in 1776 was Cook'sRiver.The
river he describedto Banks may have been a running together
of the Slaveand Peacerivers.BothPondand Henrybelievedthat
the RockyMountainsdid not extend much beyond the present-
day United States-Canadianborder. Hence, rivers out of Lake
Athabascaand the GreatSlave Lakecould run directly to the
PacificOcean. By 1785 Henrywas certainthat Cook'sRiverwas
the best road across the continent.
the coast, positioned to dominate the trade. "I
make no doubt," he explained, "but Cook's
River has a communication with those parts of
the Northwest I was at, by which a road would
be opened across the continent.'"32 Even after
leaving the Northwest for a quieterbusiness life
in Montreal, Henry never lost that vision of a
road across the continent, a vision he would
communicate to a new business partner from
New York.
Alexander Henry was the personal and in-
tellectual connection between the world of Cana-
dian exploration and John Jacob Astor. As an
outsider struggling to do business in the Mon-
trealfur market,Astor needed an agent and part-
ner. How Astor and Henry met is not known,
although it may have been through William
Edgar. Astor and Henry began doing business
as early as August 1790.33Justhow quickly the
two men became both friends and associates can
be judged by the fact that Astor usually stayed
at Henry's home on Notre Dame Street when in
Montrealon business; by 1800, Henry described
their relationship as a partnership.34The two
shared profits and projects. It was Henry who
introduced Astor to Montreal society and to
visions of the fur tradethat had capturedthe im-
aginations of so many in that city. In the mid
1790s, Henry wrote plainly about his dealings
with Astor: "Him [Astor]and me has been con-
siderably connected in the fur and China trade
this several years.' ' The roots of Astoria from
Pond and Mackenzie extended through Henry
to Astor.
Astorsurely drew his plans for Astoriamostly
from the idea's northern lineage, but he also
tapped sources closer to home. The influence of
the Lewis and Clarkexpedition on the Astoria
idea has been overstated, but its accomplish-
ments did not go unnoticed in New York. Al-
though the connections between Astor and the
captains were not as direct as those to Montreal,
they were plainly important.
31. Henryto Edgar,Montreal,September1, 1785, NorthWestCom-
pany Letters and Accounts Collection, Toronto Metropolitan
ReferenceLibrary.
32. Henryto Edgar,Montreal,March5, 1786, NorthWestCompany
Lettersand Accounts Collection, Toronto.
33. TransferAgreementbetween John JacobAstor and Alexander
Henry,Montreal,August26, 1790, NotarialRecordsof JohnGer-
band Beek, CN 601-649, ANQ.
34. Protest of RichardDobie against John JacobAstor, Montreal,
September21, 1790, NotarialRecordsof JohnGerbandBeek,CN
601-654,ANQ;Henryto JohnAskin,Montreal,January18, 1800,
in Quaife, Askin Papers, 2:275.
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WV from Montreal late in 1802, he was
undoubtedlystruckby the explorer'senthusiasm
for Columbia River commerce. "Whatever
course may be taken from the Atlantic," wrote
Mackenzie, "the Columbia is the line of com-
munication from the Pacific Ocean, pointed out
by nature." The essential Pond-Mackenzie
theme was unmistakable: "By opening this in-
tercourse between the Atlantic and Pacific
Oceans, and forming regular establishments
through the interior, and at both extremes, as
well as along the coasts and islands, the entire
command of the fur trade might be obtained.'"36
As DonaldJacksonhas written, Pond's plans and
Mackenzie's words "jolted Jeffersonback into
thinking in terms of hemispheric geography."37
These ideas triggered a set of decisions that
culminated the next year in Jefferson's instruc-
tions to Meriwether Lewis. The explorers were
directed to find an American version of Cook's
River, what the president termed "the most
direct&practicablewater communicationacross
this continent for the purpose of commerce.' '38
But unlike his Canadian competitors, Jefferson
did not propose a permanent post west of the
Rockies. Instead, he placed strong emphasis on
a St. Louis-based, Missouri River trade system.
Hence, Lewis and Clarkwere ordered to find a
post location somewhere nearthe headwatersof
the Missouri.39
While the captains did survey trading sites
along the Missouri, once on the Columbia they
could not fail to see the significance of that river.
On his return in 1806, Lewis proposed an
American trade empire that differed markedly
fromJefferson'soriginalversion. The expedition
had not found the president's desired "water
communication"and the northernRockiesroute
was neither "direct" nor "practicable.""Still,"
arguedLewis, "we believe that many articlesnot
bulky brittle nor of a very perishable naturemay
be conveyed to the United States by this rout
with more facility than that at present prac-
35. Henry to Simon McTavish, Montreal,November 23, 1794, in
Morris, "Some Letterson the China Trade," 56.
36. Lamb, Journalsand Lettersof Mackenzie, 415-418.
37. DonaldJackson,ThomasJeffersonand the Stony Mountains(Ur-
bana: University of Illinois Press, 1981), 121.
38. Jefferson, "Instructionsto Lewis, 20 June 1803," in Donald
Jackson,ed., The Lettersof the Lewisand ClarkExpeditionwith
RelatedDocuments,1783-1854, 2d ed., 2 vols. (Urbana:Univer-
sity of Illinois Press, 1978), 1:61.
39. Jackson,Lettersof Lewis and Clark, 1:65.
33
more ambitious: a majorpost on the Columbia.
Furs from interior trading houses would be car- .
. 7
ried to the ColumbiaRiverentrepotno laterthan . - '' -'-' ^- , . , . .~~~~~~~~~~~~~
..
August of each year, then shipped directly to
Chinese markets.Lewis maintainedthat the plan _ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
. . .. ... _._.. .

would preempt any North West Company in-

itiative by giving the United States direct access
to Canton. He recognized that the size and com-
plexity of the task required government sub-
sidies, but he was certain that the financial and
political returnswould more than justify the ex-
pense.40Once back in Washington, D.C., Lewis
went so far as to declare that "the signal advan-
tage" of the entire expedition "would be the
establishment of a trading post at the mouth of
the Columbia River, for expediting the com-
merce in furs to China.''41
Jeffersonmight not have agreed with Lewis's
evaluation of the expedition's ultimate results,
but he did share the explorer's enthusiasm for
a post on the Columbia.In an 1806 conversation
with Senator William Plumer, he admitted he
was "anxious to have some enterprizingmercan-
tile Americans to go on to the river Columbia
and near the Pacific ocean, and settle the land."
Since "no European nation claimed either the
soil or jurisdiction," Jeffersonsaw the Colum-
bia open to American commerce. This was
hardly the view held in London or St.
Petersburg,to say nothing of Montreal. But like
officials in London, Jefferson was cool to the
prospectof federalfinancing. Mountingtensions trade. By early November 1806, that letter had
with England and France over trans-Atlantic been reprinted not only in western newspapers
trade and Indian alarms on more easterly fron- but in the National Intelligencer and the New
tiers kept him from granting any more than lip YorkPost as well.~ WhetherAstorlearnedabout
service to Lewis's recommendations.42 Lewis's plans through such accounts is un-
Meriwether Lewis's objectives were much known. He surely knew about the Lewis and
like those of Pond, Henry, and Mackenzie. But Clark overland route but was apparently
in the genealogy of Astoria, his proposals mat- unaware of Lewis's doubts about its commercial
tered little. Lewis's plans were destined for Jef- value. If Astor seemed oblivious to Lewis's
ferson alone. A shorter version of the report, Pacific proposals, Jefferson knew little of the
draftedby Lewis but bearing Clark'sname, was New Yorker. When Astor sought direct cor-
written expressly for publication. It discussed respondence with him in 1808, the president
the possibility of a Columbia River post, sug- turned to Secretary of War Henry Dearbornfor
gested a schedule for fur collection from interior informationaboutthe financier.~ In the end, the
houses, and pointed to greatprofits in the China Lewis and Clark expeditilon neither created
40. Lewis to Jefferson, St. Louis, September 23, 1806, Jackson, Let- Astoria nor offered Astor any major ideas.
ters of Lewis and Clark, 1:320-322.
41. Samuel L. Mitchill, A Discourse on the Character and Services 43. Clarkto , St. Louis, September23, 1806, in Jackson,
of Thomas Jefferson (New York: The Lyceum of Natural History, Lettersof Lewisand Clark,1:327. The newspaperhistoryof this
1826), 29.
letter is traced in HenryR. Wagnerand CharlesL. Camp,eds.,
The Plains and the Rockies:A CriticalBibliographyof Explora-
42. Everett S. Brown, ed., William Plumer's Memorandum of Pro- tion, Adventure, and Travel in the American West, 1800-1865,
ceedings in the United States Senate, 1803-1807 (New York: ed. RobertH. Becker,4th ed. (SanFrancisco:JohnHowell-Books,
Macmillan Company, 1923), 520. 1982), 19-20.

34

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 7.= _ = _ _ = _ _ __.. .
~~~~~_
'S~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~N
Astoria in the late 1840s after it had become American territory
Perhaps the relationship was more subtle,
something like a catalytic reaction. The expedi-
tion may have crystallized thoughts and plans
Astor already had from Henry and the Montreal
Nor'westers. The example of one already suc-
cessful American endeavor must have made a
mark on Astor. Lewis and Clark'sjourney may
have encouraged him to take those Pond-
Mackenzie-Henryideas and test them in his own
imperial adventure.
By the end of the summer of 1811 Astor had
his greattrading house on the Columbia. But for
all the self-conscious talk about the Pacific Fur
Companyas an Americanenterprise,most of the
company partners were Canadians who were
unhappy with their lot in the North West Com-
pany, and Astoria itself was built primarily by
Canadianhands. The post's rostercontained the
names of FrenchCanadians,Scots, Yankeesand
44. Jefferson to Dearborn, Washington, D.C., April 8, 1808, Jeffer-
son Papers, LC.
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s~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
..,'Ui
_I|..-. .. . ...
--_.---*I
Yorkers, Hawaiians, and a growing number
of Indians. The construction and personnel of
Astoria symbolized a North America where
national borders and political destinies were still
uncertain. It was a North America where ideas
outran sovereign boundaries. As trading post
and as imperial idea, Astoria pointed to an
international, multi-cultural West. The settle-
ment on the Columbia was a patchwork com-
munity, a hybrid creation with a rich ancestry.
Springing from roots in Athabasca, Montreal,
New York, and the Alaskan coast, the Pacific
Fur Company was as diverse as the continent
itself. ot
JAMESP. RONDA, professor of history at Youngs-
town State University in Youngstown, Ohio, is a
specialist in ethnohistory. He is the author of many
articles in American Indian and frontier history and
has written four books, including Lewis and Clark
Among the Indians (1984). Ronda is currently com-
pleting the firstmodem study of Astoriaand the strug-
gle for empire in the Pacific Northwest.
35