Evolution of the

Fur Trade
 What was the Timeline?
• 1670 – The Hudson’s Bay
Company is founded.
• 1778 – Capt. James Cook
recognizes the value of
Pacific Northwest furs
• 1784 – The Northwest Fur
Company splits from the
HBCo.
• 1786 to 1789 – John Meares
(British naval officer and trader)
conducts fur trade with the
Orient.
• 1804 to 1806 – Lewis & Clark
recognize the beaver as a
resource.
• 1810 – John Jacob Astor, founder
of the Pacific Fur Company,
sends two expeditions to the
Pacific Northwest.
• 1813 – The Pacific Fur Company
sells out to the Northwest Fur
Co.
• 1821 – Northwest Fur C. and HBCo.
Merge (and become one
company again).
Where were the Fur Markets?
• The three main markets for furs
were:

– The Eastern United States

– Europe

– Northern China
How did this effect the Pacific
Northwest?
• From 1800 to 1840 became
known as the “Great American Fur
Rush”
• From 1780 to 1840 Beaver pelts
were in great demand
• The interior commerce in the
Pacific Northwest thrived on the
fur trade.
Who benefited from the Fur Trade?
• Native Americans
• Fur Trappers
• Fur Traders
• Merchant men
• Organizers
• Financiers
What Fur Companies were there?
• The Pacific Fur Company

• The Northwest Fur Company

• The Hudson’s Bay Company

• The Rocky Mountain Fur

Company
 The Pacific Fur Company
• Founded by a German immigrant
(John Jacob Astor)
• Sent two expeditions to the Pacific
Northwest to open a fur trading
business
– The first traveled by ship (Tonquin)
under the command of Duncan
McDonald to the mouth of the
Columbia River
– The second traveled overland under
the command of Wilson Price Hund
and Donald MacKenzie
• They departed St. Louis in September
1810, and arrive in January 1812
– Both expeditions are a disaster, and
Astor finally sells out to the Pacific
Fur Company (late during the war of
1812)
The Northwest Fur Company
• A newly formed British Company
that controlled the fur trade “west”
of the Canadian Rockies
• Was formed by merging several
smaller independent fur trading
groups in 1784
• Mainly consisted of men who had
split (left) the HBCo.
The Rocky Mountain Fur Company
• Formed in 1823 by Maj. Andrew
Henry and Gen. William Ashley
• Both Henry and Ashley sell out their
interests in 1826 to Jedediah Smith,
William Sublette and David Jackson
• The members of this new company
in 1826 consists of mountain men
who are hardy and very independent
• Some of the members are:
– Jim Bridger
– Benjamin Bonneville
– Jeremiah Johnson
– The Sublette brothers
• The mountain men were
responsible for the establishment
of the Oregon Trail
• They also discovered and named
physical features (and mountain
passes) on the trails
• These men are credited with
finding, exploring and mapping the
future wagon and trade routes
west.
• Their contribution, while not the
most successful financial
business, was priceless when you
count the contributions to the
development and opening of the
western frontier.
So, How did the Fur Trade work?
• There was an annual
“rendezvous” where the fur trapper
and the trader met

• This event was usually moved

from site to site each year
– Most were held in what is today the
Green River valley of Wyoming.
• Traders brought trade items like
– Blankets
– Coffee
– Sugar
– Guns
– Gunpowder
– Lead
– Trinkets
– Cloth
• Trappers would bring their years’
accumulation of beaver and other
animal pelts.
– The trapper and the trader would
bargain and ultimately arrive at an
agreed price for the furs.
– The price could be money (credit), or
goods, or a combination of both
• Many trappers also brought their
wives (Native American) to the
rendezvous
– Some trappers were known to have
spent their entire years earnings on
clothing and trinkets for their wife

• The rendezvous was also the

mountain man’s social event of the
year
• There was:
– Horse racing
– Dances
– Drinking
– Fighting

• Some trappers survived a year in

the wilderness, but did not survive
the rendezvous
• The last fur trade rendezvous was
held in 1840
• By this time the fur trade had
collapsed
– Why do you think it collapsed?
• The fur trappers trade made have
been finished, but their trails
became the roads that thousands
of emigrants would use to come
West.