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CHINOOK PEOPLE
"All hands now set to work cutting down trees, clearing away thickets, and marking out the place for the residence, storehouse, and powder magazine, which were to be built of logs and covered with bark. Others landed the timbers intended for the frame of the coasting vessel, and proceeded to put them together, while others prepared a garden spot, and sowed the seeds of various vegetables"...April 12, 1811
The fort was founded in March 1811 when the company arrived on board Captain Jonathan Thorn's ship,Tonquin. By the end of May the fort was complete, built with bark covered logs enclosing a stockade that had guns mounted for defense. By the time an overland party joined them in February, 1812, they had constructed a trading store, a blacksmith's shop, a dwelling house, and a storage shed for pelts acquired from trapping or trading with the local native Americans. Cannons were arranged around the perimeter for defense. The outpost was to serve as an administrative center for various satellite forts such as Fort Okanogan
OPERATIONS OF THE FORT
The inhabitants of the fort differed greatly in background and position, and were structured into a corporate hierarchy. The partners of the company were at the top, with clerks, craftsmen, hunters, and laborers in descending order. Nationalities included Scots, French Canadian, American, Hawaiian, and Native American. They found life quite monotonous, with the fish and vegetable diet boring. Venerial diseases from the native women were problematic.
Types of fur taken at the fort included beaver, sea otter, squirrel, and red fox.
Thorn and the Tonquin left for Russian America in June 1812, but the ship and crew was destroyed at Vancouver Island after troubles with the First Nations there.
Astor sent the Beaver to resupply the fort and to carry fur to Russian America, and thence to Canton in exchange for highly valuable Chinese goods.
Pacific Fur Company Peace Medal
(Medal given as trade item to Indian tribes.)
Click on canoe to hear Voyageur Song
WELCOME TO FORT ASTORIA