Pacific Fur Company
A depiction of North American beaver, the main source of animal pelts collected by the PFC
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| Private | |
| Industry | Fur trade |
| Fate | Dissolved |
| Successor | None |
| Founded | New York City, U.S., (1810) |
| Founder | John Jacob Astor |
| Defunct | 1813 |
| Headquarters | Fort Astoria, present day Astoria, Oregon, U.S. |
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Area served
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Pacific Northwest, also referred to as Oregon Country or the Columbia District |
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Key people
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Wilson Price Hunt, Duncan McDougall, Alexander McKay, David Stuart |
| Total assets | $200,000 (1810) |
| Parent | American Fur Company |
The Pacific Fur Company (PFC) was an American fur trade venture wholly owned and funded by John Jacob Astor that functioned from 1810 to 1813. It was based in the Pacific Northwest, an area contested over the decades between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Spanish Empire, the United States of America and the Russian Empire.
Management, clerks and fur trappers were sent both by land and by sea to the Pacific Coast in the Autumn of 1810. The base of operations was constructed at the mouth of the Columbia River in 1811, Fort Astoria (present-day Astoria, Oregon). The destruction of the company vessel the Tonquin later that year off the shore of Vancouver Island took with it the majority of the annual trading goods. Commercial competition with the NWC began soon after the foundation of Fort Astoria. The Canadian competitors maintained several stations in the interior, primarily Spokane House, Kootanae House and Saleesh House. Fort Okanogan was also opened in 1811, the first of several PFC posts created to counter these locations. The Overland Expedition faced military hostilities from several Indigenous cultures and later had an acute provision crisis leading to starvation. Despite losing men crossing the Great Plains and later at the Snake River, they arrived in groups throughout January and February 1812 at Fort Astoria.
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Wikipedia