Fur Trade Articles
Russians on the PNW Coast
Archived: 2024
—DRAFT— In studying the story of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, we learn that President Thomas Jefferson, in his 1803 instructions to Captain Meriwether Lewis, wrote that Captain Lewis may meet a fur trading ship near the mouth of the Columbia River. President Jefferson was well aware of the level of exploration and trading on […]
The Russians at Fort Clatsop
How the "Juno" nearly met the Lewis and Clark Expedition
Archived: 2019
Over the years we have heard occasional comments about the potential of a ship taking the Lewis and Clark Expedition, or at least their journals and maps, from the Pacific Northwest to return to the east coast by ship in 1806. This presumably would have also allowed the Expedition to replenish their supply of food, […]
The Astorians
A comprehensive timeline and presentation
Archived: 2024
The following table is a comprehensive timeline of the expedition to establish a fur trade post at the mouth of the Columbia financed by John Jacob Astor. The timeline is from the personal notes of Robert Heacock. He hoped that researchers will find it helpful. As personal notes, sources were not provided and the researcher […]
Robert Stuart 1812–13 Return Trip
Precurser to the Oregon-California Trails
Archived: 2021
Robert Stuart was the leader of an expedition that traveled from the newly established Fort Astoria at the mouth of the Columbia River to St. Louis, Missouri in 1812–13. Stuart and his party were successful in their attempt, despite their travel through scarcely known country and the need to avoid hostile tribes of Indians. Stuart’s […]
Wilson Hunt’s 1811–12 Astorian Expedition Route
Arikara Villages (South Dakota) to Fort Astoria (Oregon)
Archived: 2021
In 1811–1812, Wilson Hunt lead an expedition from the Arikara Villages, on the Missouri River in South Dakota, to the newly-established Fort Astoria, at the mouth of the Columbia River. In a major sense, Hunt would be traveling a route similar to the one planned by the Gaultier brothers, almost 70 years before. The Hunt […]
Verendrye Explorations
Expedition in Search of the Pacific Ocean by Pierre and Francois Gaultier 1742-43
Archived: 2020
The Gaultier Brother’s Expedition through North and South Dakota, Wyoming, and Nebraska in 1742–1743. Based on a journal, written by Francois Gaultier, Chevalier of the Verendrye, and his brother Pierre Gaultier, documenting an Expedition to reach the Western Sea, addressed to M. the Marquis of Beauharnois. 1742–43.
Ferris Map Notes
1836 Map Of The Northwest Fur Country
Archived: 2016
Notes for the 1836 Original Map of the Northwest Fur Country by Warren A. Ferris from “Life in the Rocky Mountains,” Western Literary Messenger, Buffalo, NY, (Series) 13 July 1842 – 4 May 1844.