John Jacob Astor, though he never set foot in Oregon or the Pacific Northwest, indelibly marked the region’s history through his ambitious ventures in the early 19th-century fur trade. His strategic investments and the establishment of the Pacific Fur Company played a pivotal role in shaping the economic and territorial landscape of this vast area. In 1810, driven by his vision, Astor dispatched two expeditions to establish a fur trading post at the mouth of the Columbia River, a move that would have lasting consequences.
Astor’s enterprise unfolded with the dispatch of two teams representing his Pacific Fur Company. One expedition embarked by sea, while the other ventured overland, both with the ambitious goal of creating a fur post near the Columbia River’s mouth. By the spring of 1811, the ship Tonquin successfully navigated the treacherous Columbia River bar and anchored in the estuary. Astor’s men promptly began construction on Fort Astoria, marking the first American settlement in the Oregon Country. This settlement not only represented American ambition but also laid the groundwork for what would become Oregon’s oldest continuously inhabited non-Indigenous community. The overland expedition, under the leadership of Wilson Price Hunt, completed its arduous journey and arrived in February 1812, further solidifying Astor’s presence in the region.
Astor envisioned Fort Astoria as the central hub of a vast network of trading posts spanning western North America. This network was designed to funnel valuable furs towards markets in China, a lucrative trade route of the era. From its base at Fort Astoria, the Pacific Fur Company expanded its reach, establishing several smaller posts throughout the Columbia River Basin. However, the War of 1812 cast a shadow over Astor’s grand design, disrupting operations and threatening his holdings. Facing the pressures of war and strategic vulnerability, in October 1813, the Pacific Fur Company made the difficult decision to sell Astoria to the North West Company, a British competitor. Despite the sale, the Treaty of Ghent, which concluded the War of 1812, ultimately ceded ownership of Astoria to Britain, which subsequently renamed it Fort George.
By 1821, Astor’s initial fur trade outpost on the Columbia had been absorbed into the expansive operations of the Hudson’s Bay Company. Despite this transition, Fort Astoria’s legacy endured. It had served as a crucial marker of American entrepreneurial and territorial aspirations in Oregon. This early American presence provided a significant, albeit minor, point of leverage for United States negotiators. Ultimately, these negotiations culminated in the Oregon Treaty of 1846 with Great Britain, officially incorporating the Pacific Northwest into the United States.
The Pacific Fur Company represented just one facet of John Jacob Astor’s extensive fur trading empire. He also founded the American Fur Company, which became a dominant economic force in the Missouri River fur trade throughout the 1820s and 1830s. Even before establishing his Columbia River post, Astor’s vision and business acumen were recognized by prominent figures. In an 1808 letter to Meriwether Lewis, President Thomas Jefferson lauded Astor as “a most excellent man… long engaged in the [fur] business & perfectly master of it.” Historian James Ronda described Astor as “relentless in the pursuit of wealth” and a business genius who “embraced business techniques far in advance of his contemporaries.”
Astor’s remarkable career began shortly after his arrival in New York City in 1784, at the age of twenty-one. Born into a modest family in Waldorf, Germany, he followed his older brother to New York seeking opportunity. In 1785, he married Sarah Todd, from a well-established Dutch family, and entered the trading business. His aggressive business approach and keen ability to anticipate market trends propelled him towards the burgeoning fur trade. By the 1790s, his skillful manipulation of trade relationships had brought him considerable success and wealth.
Following the loss of Astoria, John Jacob Astor strategically shifted his focus to other lucrative investments, including real estate and the China trade. However, he maintained his connection to the fur trade through the American Fur Company, which had been incorporated in 1808. His partners continued to operate the Western Department of the American Fur Company, concentrating on the upper Missouri River region. By 1834, Astor completely divested himself from the fur business, selling the American Fur Company and dedicating his remaining years to real estate ventures. When he died in 1848, John Jacob Astor left behind an estimated estate of $8 million, a staggering fortune equivalent to approximately $4 billion in 2016 dollars, cementing his legacy as one of America’s first multi-millionaires and a key figure in the history of the Pacific Northwest.
