John Jacob Astor and The Thorn in His Side

The New York merchant, John Jacob Astor, emigrated to England at 17 and then to America.  His American Fur Company was dominant in the Great Lakes before moving on west.  He planned to build a large trading post, Fort Astoria, near the mouth of the Columbia River in Oregon territory.

In September 1810, Astor sent the ship Tonquin under crusty captain Jonathon Thorn, around the Cape Horn.  Hardly out of port, trouble started.  Thorn was a strict disciplinarian and one of the partners began muttering about Thorn's life.  In March of 1811, it seems Thorn had had enough and sent the troublemaker on a longboat to look for a channel.  The boat sank and all aboard perished.

The Tonquin did reach shore two days later with difficulty.  The crew completed Fort Astoria in the Pacific Northwest.  The Indians of the Northwest traded with Astor's men until one day short-tempered Thorn slapped an Indian chief across the face.  Revenge was quick.  The Indians attacked the ship with clubs and knives.  Only five whites survived by hiding in a cabin, but four of them were later captured and tortured to death when they tried to escape. The next day when Thorn came back to the ship, he decided to set the ship's power supply - blasting him and the Indians to bits.  Thus ended the Tonquin and Captain Thorn.

Next time...The Missouri Fur Company and Manuel Lisa
________________________________
On this Day in Pioneer History: On March 21, 1871,  journalist Henry Morton Stanley begins his famous search through Africa for the missing British explorer Dr. David Livingstone.

Packing the Big Gun

Fremont and Carson set off in the summer of 1842.  Fremont had a deep need for instant glory and he could arrange situations where he was the center of attention and a hero.  In the 1840s he presented himself as a kind of frontier hero, a trailblazer for all.  He compared himself to John Jacob Astor and was an instant celebrity as he went west...why you might ask?

John Charles Fremont took along on his survey party a 12 pound cannon which he had gotten illegally from the army.  There was no possible use for a cannon on a survey expedition other than a photo op - it was fired on only one occasion at a herd of buffalo.  His military superiors were furious and his men who had to deal with him over the trails said he was "ridiculous".  Beginning to get a picture of why Captain Joseph Walker wanted nothing to do with Fremont's "survey" expedition?

Next time...An Explosion of Wagon Trains

----------------------------

Today in History:  On November 3,  1883  authorities almost catch Charles Boles, California bandit and infamous stagecoach robber called Black Bart.  He manages to make a quick getaway, but drops an incriminating clue that eventually sends him to prison.

A Parisan on the Frontier

Benjamin Bonneville was a Brigadier General in the United States Army stationed at Fort Gibson.  Born in Paris in 1796, Bonneville moved with his family to America during the French Revolution.  His original plan was to take a temporary leave of absence from the army for a fur trapping expedition into the central and northern Rockies.

John Jacob Astor, the wealthiest man in America at that time financed the expedition under the American Fur Company.  Actually Bonneville had little interest in fur trapping itself and spent most of his time mapping, setting up temporary forts and investigating routes to the Pacific Ocean.  So much time, that when he reported back to the Army, he said he would need two more years to finish his mission.

Then he met Joseph Walker...next time.