Astoria; Or, Anecdotes of an Enterprise Beyond the Rocky Mountains

An account recounts John Jacob Astor's enterprise to establish an American fur-trading outpost on the Pacific Northwest, tracing the planning, rivalries with British companies, and the dual sea and overland expeditions dispatched to the Columbia River. It interweaves travel narrative and commercial history, describing shipboard voyages, stops in the Sandwich Islands, encounters with Indigenous peoples and fur-trading networks, the lives of voyageurs and clerks, and the hardships and negotiations that shaped the venture. Interspersed sketches examine the organization of fur companies, regional geography, and the economic and diplomatic pressures surrounding early western expansion.