1. Evolution of the Fur Trade

2. What was the Timeline? 1670 – The Hudson’s Bay Company is founded.
1778 – Capt. James Cook
recognizes the value of
Pacific Northwest furs

3. 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.

4. 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).

5. Where were the Fur Markets?
The three main markets for furs were:
The Eastern United States
Europe
Northern China

6. 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.

7. Who benefited from the Fur Trade?
Native Americans
Fur Trappers
Fur Traders
Merchant men
Organizers
Financiers

8. What Fur Companies were there?
The Pacific Fur Company
The Northwest Fur Company
The Hudson’s Bay Company
The Rocky Mountain Fur Company

9. 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

10. 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)

11. 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.

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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.

15. 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.

16. Traders brought trade items like
Blankets
Coffee
Sugar
Guns
Gunpowder
Lead
Trinkets
Cloth

17. 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

18. The rendezvous was also the mountain man’s social event of the year
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

19. There was:
Horse racing
Dances
Drinking
Fighting
Some trappers survived a year in the wilderness, but did not survive the rendezvous

20. 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.