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Evolution of the Fur Trade

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Title: Slide 1 Author: Temp Last modified by: Tumwater User Created Date: 7/25/2005 5:58:33 PM Document presentation format: On-screen Show Company – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: Evolution of the Fur Trade


1
Evolution of the Fur Trade
2
What was the Timeline?
  • 1670 The Hudsons 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 Hudsons 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
  • 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 mans 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.
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