_Fur Trade the Leading Business in the Northwest.--Rise of the
Astor Family.--The U. S. Government fails as a Rival of the
Northwest Company of Montreal, in the Fur Trade.--John Jacob Astor
sees the Possibilities of the American Fur Trade.--He ships Furs
from Montreal to London.--Irving's Opinion of Astor.--Astor plans
to establish a Line of Trading-posts up the Missouri and down the
Columbia.--The Scheme a Failure, but indirectly Valuable.--Astor's
Enterprise helpful toward the Americanization of Louisiana.--He
establishes the Pacific Fur Company, 1810.--This Company and
the Northwest Company both seeking to occupy the Mouth of the
Columbia; the Former arrives First.--In the War of 1812 the
British take Possession of the Place.--Benefits to America from
Astor's Example.--Like him, some Other Promoters failed to achieve
the Particular Ends in View._
ASTOR: THE PROMOTER OF ASTORIA
[Illustration]
THE brave explorations of Lewis and Clark and Pike opened up the vast
Territory of Louisiana for occupation and commerce. The one great
business in the Northwest had been the fur trade, and for a long period
it was yet to be the absorbing theme of promoters and capitalists, the
source of great rivalries, great disappointments, and great fortunes.
No story of American promotion is more unique than that of the rise of
the Astor family from obscurity to a position of power and usefulness,
and this story has its early setting in the fur-trading camps of the
Far Northwest, where Astoria arose beside the Pacific Sea. The tale is
most typically American: Its hero, John Jacob Astor, was of foreign
parentage; he came to America poor; he seized upon an opening which
others had passed over; he had the support of a self-confidence that
was not blind; he fought undauntedly all obstacles and scorned all
rivalry; and at last he secured America's first princely fortune.
Until the beginning of the nineteenth century the fur trade of the
Northwest was in the hands of the powerful Northwest Company of
Montreal, a race of merchant princes about whose exploits such a
true and brilliant sheen of romance has been thrown. But the United
States Government was not content that Canadian princes alone should
get possession of the wealth of the Northern forests, and as early
as 1796 it sent agents westward to meet the Indians and to erect
trading-houses. The plan was a failure, as any plan must have been
"where the dull patronage of Government is counted upon to outvie
the keen activity of private enterprise." In almost every one of our
preceding stories of America's captains of expansion, save that of the
Lewis and Clark expedition only, a private enterprise has been our
study, and each story has been woven around a personality. Even in the
case of the exception noted, it was the personal interest and daring of
Lewis and Clark that made their splendid tour a success, though it was
promoted by the Government.
The quiet little village of Waldorf near Heidelberg, Germany, was the
birthplace of John Jacob Astor, and the name is preserved to-day in
the princely splendor of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. The young man, who
never believed that he would become a merchant prince, spent his first
years in the most rural simplicity. It is marvellous how America has
imperiously called upon so many distant heaths for men with a genius
for hard work and for daring dreams; it called St. Clair from Scotland,
Zeisberger from Moravia, and Gallatin and Bouquet from Switzerland; and
now a German peasant boy, inheriting blood and fibre, felt early in
his veins this same mystic call, and saw visions of a future possible
only in a great and free land. At an early age he went to London,
where he remained in an elder brother's employ until the close of
the Revolutionary War; now, in 1783, at twenty years of age, he left
London for America with a small stock of musical instruments with
which his brother had supplied him. At this time one of those strange
providential miracles in human lives occurred in the life of this lad,
who himself had had a large faith since childhood days; by mere chance,
on the ocean voyage, or in the ice-jam at Hampton Roads, his mind was
directed to the great West and its fur trade. From just what point
the leading came strongest is not of great importance, but the fact
remains that upon his arrival at New York young Astor disposed of his
musical instruments and hastened back to London with a consignment
of furs. The transaction proved profitable, and the youth turned all
his energies to the problem of the fur trade. He studied the British
market, and went to the continent of Europe and surveyed conditions
there. He returned to New York and began in the humblest way to found
his great house. All imaginable difficulties were encountered; the
fur trade had been confined almost wholly to the Canadian companies,
who brooked no competition; in the Atlantic States it had been
comparatively unimportant and insignificant. At the close of the war
of separation England had refused to give up many of her important
posts on the American side of the Great Lakes,--a galling hindrance
to all who sought to interest themselves in the fur trade. Again, the
importation of furs from Canada to the United States was prohibited.
The young merchant soon began making trips to Montreal, at which point
he purchased furs and shipped them direct to London.
In this fight for position and power young Astor showed plainly the
great characteristics of the successful merchant,--earnestness and
faith. He showed, too, some of the rashness of genius, which at
times is called insanity; but search in the biographies of our great
Americans, and how many will you find who did not early in their
careers have some inkling of their great successes,--some whisper of
fortune which rang in the young heart? The successes of John Jacob
Astor were not greater than some of his day-dreams. "I'll build one day
or other," he once said to himself on Broadway, "a greater house than
any of these, in this very street." Irving writes of Astor:
"He began his career, of course, on the narrowest scale; but he
brought to the task a persevering industry, rigid economy, and
strict integrity. To these were added an inspiring spirit that
always looked upward; a genius, bold, fertile, and expansive; a
sagacity quick to grasp and convert every circumstance to its
advantage; and a singular and never-wavering confidence of signal
success."
It was the reports of Lewis and Clark that inspired Astor in his daring
dream of securing a commercial control of the great Northwest which,
by the help and protection of the American Government, would give
impetus to the expansion of the American people into a great empire.
The key to Astor's plan was to open an avenue of intercourse between
the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and form regular establishments or
settlements across the continent from one headquarters on the Atlantic
to another on the Pacific. Sir Alexander Mackenzie had conceived
this idea in 1793, but it involved such herculean labors that it was
not attempted; the business sinews of the Hudson Bay Company and the
Northwest Company were so strong, and their long-cherished jealousies
were so deep-rooted, that Mackenzie's plan of coalescence was
impossible. In the meantime Lewis and Clark had found a route through
Louisiana to the Pacific, and Captain Gray of Boston had anchored in
the mouth of the Columbia. By land and water the objective point had
been reached, and Astor entered upon the great task of his life with
ardor and enthusiasm. The very obstacles in his way seemed to augment
his courage, and every repulse fired him to increased exertion.
[Illustration: JOHN JACOB ASTOR
_Founder of Astoria_]
It is a remarkable fact that at this time the principal market for
American furs was in China. The British Government had awarded the
monopoly of the China trade to the powerful East India Company, and
neither the Hudson Bay Company nor the Northwest Company was allowed to
ship furs westward across the Pacific to China. Astor planned to take
full advantage of this ridiculous handicap under which the Canadian
fur companies labored. He planned to erect a line of trading posts up
the Missouri and down the Columbia, at whose mouth a great emporium
was to be established; and to this the lesser posts which were to be
located in the interior would all be tributary. A coastwise trade
would be established, with the Columbia post as headquarters. Each
year a ship was to be sent from New York to the Columbia, loaded with
reënforcements and supplies. Upon unloading, this ship was to take the
year's receipt of furs and sail to Canton, trading off its rich cargo
there for merchandise; the voyage was to be continued to New York,
where the Chinese cargo was to be turned into money.
It is not because of the success of this intrepid promoter that the
founding of Astoria occupies such a unique position among the great
exploits in the history of American expansion. His attempt to secure
the fur trade was not a success; but, considering the day in which it
was conceived, the tremendous difficulties to be overcome, the rivalry
of British and Russian promoters in the North and Northwest, and the
inability of others to achieve it, the founding of Astoria on the
Columbia must be considered typically American in the optimism of its
conception and the daring of its accomplishment. If there is a good
sense in which the words can be used, America has been made by a race
of gamblers the like of which the world has never seen before. We have
risked our money as no race risked money before our day. Astor was
perhaps the first great "plunger" of America; his enthusiasm carried
everything before it and influenced the spread of American rights and
interests. The failure of the Astoria scheme did not check certain
more fundamental movements toward the Pacific; the questions of
boundaries and territorial and international rights were brought to the
fore because of Astor's attempt. This promoter's lifelong enterprise
was a highly important step, after the Lewis and Clark expedition,
toward the Americanization of the newly purchased Louisiana; it
hastened the settlement of questions which had to be faced and solved
before Louisiana was ours in fact as well as on paper. Lewis and Clark
found a way thither and announced to the Indian nations American
possession; Astor, by means of a private enterprise, precipitated the
questions of boundaries and rights which America and England must have
settled sooner or later.
One of the first interesting developments of an international nature
followed close upon a diplomatic manoeuvre by which Astor attempted
to thwart rivalry by seeking to have the Northwest Company become
interested to the extent of a one-third share in his American company.
The wily Canadians delayed their decision, and at last answered by
attempting to secure the mouth of the Columbia before Astor's party
could reach the spot. Astor pushed straight ahead, however, and on June
23, 1810, the Pacific Fur Company was organized, with Mr. Astor, Duncan
McDougal, Donald McKenzie, and Wilson Price Hunt as chief operators.
The stock in this newly formed company was to be divided into one
hundred equal shares, fifty of which were to be at the disposal of
Mr. Astor, the remaining fifty to be divided among the partners and
associates. Mr. Astor was immediately placed at the head of the
Company, to manage its business in New York. He was to furnish all
vessels, provisions, ammunition, goods, arms, and all requisites for
the enterprise, provided they did not involve a greater advance than
four hundred thousand dollars. To Mr. Astor was given the privilege
of introducing other persons into the Company as partners. None of
them should be entitled to more than two shares, and two, at least,
must be conversant with the Indian trade. Annually a general meeting
of the Company was to be held at the Columbia River, at which absent
members might be represented and, under certain specified conditions,
might vote by proxy. The association was to continue twenty years if
successful; should it be found unprofitable, however, the parties
concerned had full power to dissolve it at the end of the first five
years. For this trial period of five years Mr. Astor volunteered to
bear all losses incurred, after which they were to be borne by the
partners proportionally to the number of shares they held. Wilson Price
Hunt was chosen to act as agent for the Company for a term of five
years. He was to reside at the principal establishment on the West
coast; should the interests of the association at any time require his
absence from this post, a person was to be appointed in general meeting
to take his place.
The two campaigns now inaugurated, one by land and one by sea, aimed at
the coveted point on the Pacific Coast. The "Tonquin" was fitted out
in September, 1810, and sent under Captain Thorn around Cape Horn, and
Hunt was sent from Montreal with the land expedition. The "Tonquin"
arrived at the mouth of the Columbia March 22, 1811, and on April 12
the little settlement, appropriately named Astoria, was founded on
Point George. In the race for the Columbia the Americans had beaten the
Canadians.
Hunt had gone to Montreal in July, 1810, and, setting out from that
point by way of the Ottawa, reached Mackinaw July 22. Having remained
at this point nearly three weeks, he reached St. Louis by way of the
Green Bay route on September 3. The party was not on its way again
until October 21, and it wintered at the mouth of the Nodowa on the
Missouri, four hundred and fifty miles from its mouth. Proceeding
westward in April, the party gained the Columbia on the 21st of
January, 1812, after a terrible journey, and on the fifteenth of
February Astoria was reached.
Astor's great plan was now well under way toward successful operation;
the promoter could not know for many days the fate of either the
"Tonquin" or the overland expedition. But his resolute persistence
never wavered; he fitted out a second ship, the "Beaver," which
sailed October 10, 1811, for the Sandwich Islands and the Columbia.
The months dragged on; there came no word from the "Tonquin"; no word
from Hunt or Astoria; no word from the "Beaver"; thousands of dollars
had been invested, and no hint was received concerning its safety,
to say nothing of profit. Rumors of the hostility of the Northwest
Company were circulated, and of their appeal to the British Government,
protesting against the operation of this American fur company.
Then came the War of 1812, and the darkest days for the promoter of
Astoria. In 1813, despite the lack of all good news, Astor fitted out
a third ship, and the "Lark" sailed from New York March 6, 1813. The
ship had been gone only two weeks when news came justifying Astor's
fears for the safety of his Pacific colony. A second appeal of the
Northwest Company to the British Government had gained the ear of the
ministry, and a frigate was ordered to the mouth of the Columbia to
destroy any American settlement there and raise the British flag over
the ruins. Astor appealed to the American Government for assistance;
the frigate "Adams" was detailed to protect American interests on
the Pacific. Astor fitted out a fourth ship, the "Enterprise," which
was to accompany the "Adams." Now by way of St. Louis came the news
of the safe arrival of both Hunt and the "Beaver" at Astoria, and of
the successful formation of that settlement. Hope was high, and Astor
said, "I felt ready to fall upon my knees in a transport of gratitude."
Dark news came quickly upon the heels of the good. The crew of the
"Adams" was needed on the Great Lakes, and the ship could not go to the
Pacific. Astor's hopes fell, but he determined to send the "Enterprise"
alone. Then the British blockaded New York, and the last hope of giving
help to Astoria was lost. By the "Lark" Astor sent directions to Hunt
to guard against British surprise. "Were I on the spot," he wrote with
fire, "and had the management of affairs, I would defy them all; but,
as it is, everything depends upon you and your friends about you. Our
enterprise is grand, and deserves success, and I hope in God it will
meet it. If my object was merely gain of money, I should say, 'Think
whether it is best to save what we can, and abandon the place; but the
very idea is like a dagger to my heart.'"
The fate of Astoria is well known; McDougal, Astor's agent, fearing
the arrival of a British man-of-war, capitulated, on poor financial
terms, to agents of the Northwest Company, which was in occupation when
the British sloop-of-war "Raccoon" arrived, November 30. On December
12 Captain Block with his officers entered the fort, and, breaking a
bottle of wine, took possession in the name of his Britannic Majesty.
The failure of Astoria did not by any means ruin its sturdy promoter,
though it meant a great monetary loss. Astor's fortune kept swelling
with the years until it reached twenty millions; portions of it are of
daily benefit to many thousands of his countrymen in such public gifts
as the Astor Library.
But these material benefits never did a greater good than the influence
Astor exerted in turning the minds and hearts of men to the Northwest.
In many of our stories of early American promotion the particular end
in view was never achieved. No hope of Washington's (after his desire
for independence) was more vital than his hope of a canal between the
Potomac and the Ohio. The plan was not realized, yet through his hoping
for it and advocating it both the East and the West received lasting
benefits. But of the stories of broken dreams, that of Astoria stands
alone and in many ways unsurpassed. The indomitable spirit which Astor
showed has been the making of America. The risks he ran fired him to
heartier endeavor, as similar risks have incited hundreds of American
promoters since his day; he stands, in failure and in success, as the
early type of the American promoter and successful merchant prince.