ABSTRACT
The expedition reached the mouth of the Columbia River in the spring of 1812 and soon began the construction of a trading post, Astoria. There existed in the United States a market for tea, silks, spices, and chinaware. If Americans could reach Asia they might carry its products to many lands. For many years after 1783 the people of the Union busied themselves with politics, land speculation, and the building of new settlements, to the neglect of the fur trade. British firms sent agents to inland posts whence trading goods were carried directly to the Indians in their villages and where the furs were brought for reshipment to Montreal. New Englanders attributed the depression of the industry to efforts of Britain and France to foster their fisheries by favouring them with bounties, by recruiting American fishermen, and by excluding American fish from their markets.
