Astoria was hardly just an enterprise of John Jacob Astor and his Pacific Fur Company. The story of Astoria is truly international in both origins and consequences.
 

The United States: In it's earliest days, Astoria was seen as a strategic postition for primarily economic gain. Lewis and Clark reported to Thomas Jefferson that the site of present day Astoria would serve well as a fur trading post. This post acted as the American response to the Canadian trapping west of the Continental Divide by the North West Company. Once the fort was established and, for Astor, subsequently failed, Astoria became a symbol of westward expansion. In the years following the Joint Occupation Treaty, Astoria, to some government officials, was worth fighting for. Astoria was the most western, the most remote site of American exploration. Thus, in the 1840s, some Oregon Trail pioneers continued from the "end of the trail" at Oregon City to Astoria, where a modest sized fishing and agricultural village was established.

Russia: To Russia, Astoria was essential to their fur trading ventures in the northwest of Canada and Alaska. Not only did Astor's ships supply the colony at New Archangel (Sitka, Alaska) with much needed provisions, but it then carried its furs to China, were the Russians had been banned from trading. Thus they were able to get the Chinese value from their goods by trading under the flag of the Americans.

  Flag of the Russian - American Company.

Hawaiians: Hawaii was the layover point for ships travelling to the northwest. Thus, when the trade ships bound for Astoria rounded the Cape Horn of South America, they immediatley headed not up the coast but to Hawaii. Here they traded and restocked their provisions. Consequently, the earliest Astorians had among there numbers a contingent of Hawaiians, who were hired to garden and tend the livestock. These hired Hawaiians didn't enjoy the northwest's damp climate at all and returned home when Wilson Price Hunt departed Astoria in 1814. However, the influence of Hawaii itself and the hired Hawaiians was significant in Astoria's establishment.

Chinese: Trade developed in the 1790s between the fur trade in America and the East. Canton, China became the principle port for the arrival of Western trade ships. Here a hefty price could be attained for beaver and sea otter pelts. Astor's fort was meant to take advantage of this demand by the Chinese for fur. Instead of having to haul the pelts from the west back to the eastern post for shipment, why not store and ship the pelts from their origin in the west? Thus Astoria was an economically efficient way to expande the international fur trade, and China was the principle partner in this system.

  A Chinook Indian Woman.

Spainish California: Astoria also effected it's southen neighbors. As early as the 1780s, when exploration of the Pacific coast heightened, Spanish officials began to worry about competition for land they claimed but did not utilize. While the Spanish were concentrated too far to the south to compete for Astoria, they still recognized the fort as a threat to the land they claimed.

British Canadians: The British Canadians played the most influential role besides that of the Americans in the establishment and destiny of Astoria. One of the primary reasons that Astoria was so daring an enterprise was because it boldly challenged the Canadian trappers by sprinting to the far west instead of creeping westward as the Canadians were doing. Thus, as seen throughout this project, the fort at Astoria was a strategic goal of both the American and Canadian fur traders. However, at the time when occupation was to be decided once and for all, the government backing the Canadian trappers, half a world away, saw no need to compete with the Americans, whose government fervently desired to assert itself in the northwest. Consequntly, the British - Canadians who had worked so hard to explore and trap the west ended up being pushed to the north permanently.

Nez Perce Indian.

Native Americans: Though Astor warned his men to be cautious with the local natives, the relationship between the Indians and the Astorians was essential to the fort's establishment. The Indians provided the Astorians with fish and meat (for a fair trade, of course), as few of the traders had any experience with hunting or fishing.

Picture credits: Ronda, page 67. Franchere, page 24. Franchere, page 152.

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