Fort Astoria, Oregon: A Wild West Trading Post Tale
Okay, picture this: early 1800s, the American West is still pretty much the Wild West, and everyone’s scrambling to make a name (and a fortune) for themselves. Enter John Jacob Astor, a big-shot businessman with a vision. He wanted to tap into the super lucrative fur trade on the Pacific Coast, and his plan hinged on a little place called Fort Astoria in present-day Oregon.
Astor’s Grand Plan: The Pacific Fur Company
Astor wasn’t messing around. He knew he needed a solid team to pull this off, so he created the Pacific Fur Company as a branch of his American Fur Company. His strategy? Build trading posts all along the Pacific Coast. Now, here’s where it gets interesting. Instead of starting from scratch, Astor cleverly poached some talent from the North West Company, a rival fur trading outfit. Guys like Donald Mackenzie, Alexander MacKay, and Duncan McDougall jumped ship to join Astor’s crew.
To get the whole operation rolling, Astor decided to send two groups:
- The Overland Crew: A bunch of laborers and officers who would trek across land, following a route similar to the famous Lewis and Clark Expedition. Talk about a challenging commute!
- The Sea Team: A group that would sail around Cape Horn on merchant ships to the Columbia River. A long and potentially dangerous voyage, but it got the job done.
The Astor Expedition: Setting Sail and Hitting the Trail
In 1810, Astor launched the Astor Expedition, aiming to establish the first permanent U.S. settlement on the Pacific coast. A maritime group of Pacific Fur Company staff were sent on board the Tonquin, while another party traveled overland from St. Louis, Missouri. The Tonquin was used to carry a detachment of employees under the command of Captain Jonathan Thorn. After spending several days exploring the mouth of the Columbia River, 33 men disembarked on April 12, 1811.
Building Fort Astoria: A Log Cabin with Guns
By May 1811, the company’s employees had built Fort Astoria on the south bank of the Columbia River, seven miles from the river’s mouth. The fort was built of bark-covered logs that enclosed a stockade with guns mounted for defense. It was built amid the Clatsop and Chinook peoples’ lands. It was the first American-owned settlement on the Pacific coast of North America.
Meanwhile, a North West Company explorer, David Thompson, was the first European to navigate the entire length of the Columbia River in 1811. Thompson reached the partially constructed Fort Astoria at the mouth of the Columbia River, arriving two months after the Pacific Fur Company’s ship, the Tonquin.
Life at the Fort: A Mix of Cultures and Classes
When the overland party finally showed up in February 1812, the Pacific Fur Company laborers had constructed a trading store, a blacksmith’s shop, a house, and a storage shed for pelts acquired from trapping or trading with the local Native Americans. The traders arranged cannons around the perimeter for defense. The post was to serve as an administrative center for various Pacific Fur Company satellite forts, such as Fort Okanogan.
The fort’s inhabitants were a mixed bag, to say the least. You had the big-shot fur-trading partners at the top, then clerks, craftsmen, hunters, and laborers in descending order. A real corporate ladder situation in the middle of the wilderness!
War and a Change of Hands
Unfortunately, things took a turn for the worse with the War of 1812. Fort Astoria was too isolated to get any real help from the U.S. military. So, in 1813, the Pacific Fur Company had to throw in the towel. The Montreal-based North West Company swooped in and bought up all their assets, including Fort Astoria. They renamed it Fort George and used it as their main base for operations in the area, particularly along the Columbia River.
Over the next few years, the North West Company expanded the original footprint of Fort Astoria from 150 by 150 feet to 190 by 210 feet and constructed a 170-foot-long warehouse. It was substantially larger and better armed, including six 6-pound cannons, four 4-pound cannons, two 6-pound mortars, and seven swivels. Laborers also expanded their agricultural fields. North West Company personnel at Fort Astoria in 1817 stood at 150, nearly all French Canadian, with 30 Hawaiian laborers (Kanakas). At the time, the Northwest Company had no competition for the land-based fur trade in the region and became an important port of call for the Maritime Fur Trade.
British Rule and a Slow Decline
The Treaty of 1818 established joint U.S. – British occupancy of territory west of the continental divide to the Pacific Ocean. At that time, there were about 50 employees at Fort George, over half being Hawaiian Kanakas.
In 1821, the Hudson’s Bay Company absorbed the North West Company, and Fort George became part of their vast network of trading posts. It remained the main hub for the Columbia Department until 1825, when Fort Vancouver was established as a better-located headquarters. Fort George was abandoned, and neighboring native villagers began to seasonally reside there.
A Second Life: Salmon and Shipwrecks
But the story of Fort George doesn’t end there. In 1829, American naval merchants started showing up on the Columbia River, so the Hudson’s Bay Company decided to reopen the fort. It was in pretty rough shape, and the clerk had to live in a tent that winter while they rebuilt it.
The rebuilt fort was smaller, measuring 20 feet wide by 60 feet long. Along with two minor buildings, there was also a small warehouse. It was then utilized as a fishery station and a small outer depot that focused on Indian trade on the lower river. After the sinking of two Hudson Bay Company ships – the William and the Ann, at the mouth of the Columbia necessitated using the trading post to guide ships inland. Beginning in 1830, the company continuously used the location in a small capacity.
Throughout the 1830s and 1840s, several men served as Fort George’s managing officers. The growing salmon harvesting operations of the Hudson’s Bay Company were focused on the fisheries surrounding Fort George. The company used the salmon to feed its employees, as well as exporting some to the markets of the Kingdom of Hawaii.
A Humble End
In 1838, Captain Edward Belcher of the visiting HMS Sulphur described the post: “A small house for Mr. Birnie, two or three sheds for the Canadians, about six or eight in number, and a pine stick with a red ensign, now represented Fort George. Not a gun or warlike appearance of any kind remains. One would rather take it for the commencement of a village than any noted fort.”
The Legacy Lives On
In 1846 the Oregon Treaty ended the Oregon Boundary Dispute, with Britain ceding all rights to the mainland south of the 49th Parallel to the United States. However, the fur trade would remain under British control until American pioneers following the Oregon Trail began filtering into the port town in the mid-1840s.
Today, you can visit the site of Fort Astoria, which was added to the list of National Historic Landmarks on November 5, 1961. A reconstructed blockhouse marks the site at 1498 Exchange St, Astoria, Oregon. It’s a reminder of a time when the Pacific Northwest was a wild and untamed place, and Fort Astoria was right in the thick of it.
So, next time you’re in Oregon, take a detour to Astoria and imagine what life was like for those early fur traders, battling the elements, negotiating with Native Americans, and trying to make their fortune in the Wild West.