Instruct: Given a question, retrieve documents that answer the question.
Query: Where was the Pacific Fur Company headquartered?
At risk of being captured by the British during the War of 1812, Fort Astoria and all other Pacific Fur Company assets in the Oregon Country were sold to the Montreal-based North West Company in October 1813. The North West Company had already been expanding into the Pacific Northwest and dominated the region unchallenged from the 1813 acquisition of the Pacific Fur Company until 1821, when it was absorbed into the Hudson's Bay Company. During this time the North West Company put the Astorian scheme into practice, sending supplies by sea to the Columbia River and exporting furs directly to China. The Hudson's Bay Company expanded the system and during the 1820s and 1830s dominated the Pacific Northwest from its Columbia District headquarters at Fort Vancouver (built in 1825 by the District's Chief Factor John McLoughlin across the Columbia from present-day Portland). Although fur depletion and a crash in fur prices undermined the company in the early 1840s, it remained an important presence until the Oregon Treaty of 1846.
The North American fur trade was the industry and activities related to the acquisition, trade, exchange, and sale of animal furs in North America. Aboriginal peoples in Canada and Native Americans in the United States of different regions traded among themselves in the pre–Columbian Era, but Europeans participated in the trade beginning from the time of their arrival in the New World and extended its reach to Europe. The French started trading in the 16th century, the English established trading posts on Hudson Bay in present-day Canada in the 17th century, and the Dutch had trade by the same time in New Netherland. The 19th-century North American fur trade, when the industry was at its peak of economic importance, involved the development of elaborate trade networks.
Thirteen men signed contracts in Montreal to join Hunt on the journey to the Pacific coast by land. Notably only one had previously operated under a contract lasting longer than a year. The generous cash advancements were taken advantage by three men who deserted before Hunt and the remaining group left the city for Michilimackinac in July. The party reached Mackinac Island on 28 July 1810. Acting as a major depot for the regional Great Lakes fur trade, the island was where Hunt focused on hiring more men for the company. The veteran fur merchant Ramsay Crooks was convinced to join the company and assisted in recruiting additional men. Over the sixteen days spent there, a total seventeen men were recruited to the concern with sixteen being French-Canadian. This group of men, unlike those hired in Montreal, had extensive experience working in the fur trade as voyageurs and other roles. Likely suggested by Crooks, interested men already hired by other companies would have their contracts purchased from their employers.
Europeans mainly traded alongside the coast of North America with Native Americans. The early fur trade with Native Americans, which developed alongside the coasts of North America, was not limited to the beaver. Beavers were not particularly valued and people preferred "fancy fur" or "fur that is used with or on the pelt. The fur trade was viewed as secondary to fishing during this era.
The earliest North American fur trading did not include long distance transportation of the furs after they were obtained by trade with the First Nations; it started with trading near settlements or along the coast or waterways accessible by ship. Soon, coureurs des bois achieved business advantages by travelling deeper into the wilderness and trading there. By 1681, the King of France decided to control the traders by publishing an edict that banned fur and pelt trading in New France.
A Pacific Railroad train did eventually reach Jefferson City four months later, but St. Louis' plan to be the starting point of the transcontinental railroad was unsuccessful. In 1869, the First Transcontinental Railroad was completed at Promontory Summit, Utah, stretching from San Francisco to Chicago. The Pacific Railroad was renamed Missouri Pacific in 1867 and later became a part of Union Pacific in 1982.
While at the junction of the Columbia and Okanogan River, a large encampment of Syilx were encountered. Prominent members of the nation entreated the fur traders to resided among their people, proclaiming "themselves to be always be our friends, to kill us plenty of beavers, to furnish us at all times with provisions, and to ensure our protection and safety." The cargo of the canoes were taken to land on 1 September and work soon began on Fort Okanogan. A residence crafted from driftwood acquired from the Okanogan River. While construction of the post was ongoing, four men that included Pillet were detailed to inform the progress of inland trade. The party arrived back at the company headquarters on 11 October and gave its favorable report.
The First Transcontinental Railroad (also called the Great Transcontinental Railroad, known originally as the "Pacific Railroad" and later as the "Overland Route") was a continuous railroad line constructed between 1863 and 1869 that connected the existing eastern U.S. rail network at Omaha, Nebraska/Council Bluffs, Iowa with the Pacific coast at the Oakland Long Wharf on San Francisco Bay. The rail line was built by three private companies over public lands provided by extensive US land grants. Construction was financed by both state and US government subsidy bonds as well as by company issued mortgage bonds. The Western Pacific Railroad Company built of track from Oakland/Alameda to Sacramento, California. The Central Pacific Railroad Company of California (CPRR) constructed eastward from Sacramento to Promontory Summit, Utah Territory (U.T.). The Union Pacific built from the road's eastern terminus at Council Bluffs near Omaha, Nebraska westward to Promontory Summit.
The Portolà expedition was the beginning of a push by Spain to explore the northwestern frontier of Las Californias, and to establish both military outposts and missions. The move was intended to counter what were thought to be colonial designs by Russian traders from Alaska and the British fur companies in the Pacific Northwest. (See: Fort Ross, Russian-American Company, Hudson's Bay Company) The Portolà expedition was organized by the "Visitadór Generàl" of New Spain, José de Gálvez, following up (belatedly) on previous maritime expeditions, most notably that of Sebastián Vizcaíno in 1602-3, who visited and described many points along the coast, including Monterey Bay, Portolà's primary destination.
The Atlantic shipping terminal was in Colon, Panama. The Pacific terminal was in Panama City. The 48-mile double track railway was the first transcontinental railway and an engineering marvel of the era. Until the opening of the Panama Canal in 1914, the Panama Railway Company carried the heaviest volume of freight per unit length of any railroad in the world. H. W. Corbett and others from Portland would then use it to get back and forth to the connecting ships to and from the East, rather than crossing on mule back. When the transcontinental Union Pacific Railroad to San Francisco was completed on May 10, 1869, this more direct route was then used for shipping and travel connecting to Portland by boat or stage coach.
In 1838 the New Zealand Company was formed in England with the purpose of facilitating and encouraging migration from overcrowded cities to New Zealand, selling land to settlers who would work as farmers and labourers. A separate enterprise, the Plymouth Company, was established in Plymouth in February 1840, where it was run under the guidance of agent Thomas Woolcombe. (Many streets in New Plymouth bear the names of the company’s directors, including Woolcombe, the Earl of Devon, Thomas Gill, Sir Anthony Buller, Lord Eliot, George Leach, Sir Charles Lemon, Edward St Aubyn, E.W.W. Pendarvis, Lord Courtenay and Hussey Vivian.) The company merged with the New Zealand Company in April 1841 after suffering financial losses through the collapse of its bank.
In the U.S. Pacific Northwest, a major Christmas tree growing region, Douglas-fir has always been the primary species grown. A full one-half of all trees produced in the Pacific Northwest are Douglas-fir. Douglas-firs typically take five to seven years before they are mature enough to sell as Christmas trees. Also common in the region are noble fir, a tree which commands a higher price than Douglas-fir, and grand fir, which accounts for about 10 percent of the annual harvest in the Northwest. Other species collectively account for only 3–5 percent of the total Northwest harvest.
Innis's 15-page conclusion to the "Fur Trade in Canada" explains the significance of staple products, such as furs, to colonial development. It also explores the effects of the staples trade on the more technologically advanced home countries of France and Britain. "Fundamentally the civilization of North America is the civilization of Europe," Innis writes, "and the interest of this volume is primarily in the effects of a vast new land area on European civilization." He notes that European settlers in North America survived by borrowing the cultural traits of the indigenous peoples, but also sought to maintain European standards of living by exporting goods not available in the home country in exchange for manufactured products. In Canada's case, the first such goods were the staples cod fish and beaver fur. Later staples included lumber, pulp and paper, wheat, gold, nickel and other metals.
Curacao (pronounced Koo-ra-sao), formerly La Curacao, is a large-format retail store chain. Founded in 1978, Curacao is headquartered in Los Angeles with retail locations in California, Arizona and Nevada.
The Dieppe Company () was a French overseas trading company of the seventeenth century. It was founded on 1 June 1604, through the issuance of letter patents by Henry IV to Dieppe merchants, with an eye on the Far East trade possibilities. The establishment of the company gave the merchants exclusive rights (within France, at least) to the Asian trade for 15 years, but in the event, no trading expeditions were mounted by the company under this name.
The lumber community of New France, located about inland from Weymouth, was founded by the Stehelin family who came to the area from Normandy, France in 1892. The community they established was notable for its early use of hydroelectric power generation, earning it the local nickname "The Electric City". Also notable was the Stehelin family's railroad, the Weymouth and New France Railway, constructed using logs as tracks, which they used to bring lumber to the company wharf at Weymouth. As many as 1.5 million board feet of timber were shipped annually from New France to South America and England. The railway was destroyed by fire in 1907 and the business ceased not long afterwards. There is little left of New France except for the foundations of the city buildings. J.D. Irving, recent owners of the land, established walking trails and interpretive signs at the site and fixed the foundations so they are safe for visitors to explore. The lands were purchased by the Province of Nova Scotia on 3 February 2010, thus assuring the protection of this unusual part of the province.
The Pacific Highway Border Crossing connects the towns of Blaine, Washington and Surrey, British Columbia on the Canada–United States border. It is located on the Pacific Highway which runs from San Diego, California to Vancouver, British Columbia. What started as a dirt road alternative route to the Peace Arch Border Crossing in 1913, the Pacific Highway soon became the preferred route when it was paved in 1923. The part of the Pacific Highway that crosses the border here is now signed as British Columbia Highway 15 on the Canadian side and Washington State Route 543 on the American side. Since the 1970s, all commercial vehicles crossing the border between Blaine and Surrey are required to use this crossing. It is now one of the five busiest commercial border crossings on the US-Canada border.
The Northern Pacific Railway was the first railroad to order a 2-8-8-4. The first was built in 1928 by American Locomotive Company; at the time, it was the largest locomotive ever built. It had the largest firebox ever applied to a steam locomotive, some in area, to burn Rosebud coal, a cheap low-quality coal. But the firebed was too large for the available draft and the fire burned poorly. The problem was mitigated by blocking off the first few feet of the grates. Baldwin Locomotive Works built 11 more for the Northern Pacific in 1930. None were saved.
San Francisco continued to install manual offices throughout the 1920s. When PT&T took over the operations of its San Francisco and Oakland competitor, Home Telephone Co., in the early 1920s, their customers were switched from Home's dial service to Pacific Telephone manual exchanges. A 1927 Pacific Telephone & Telegraph Co. publication proudly describes the company's newest manual offices, without a word of plans to introduce dial service. San Francisco's first dial office, ORdway, opened on 23 March 1929. The first suburban step-by-step (electromechanical stepping switch) office opened in Palo Alto in 1929.
The company was founded on November 26, 1905, when Florence Butt opened the C.C. Butt Grocery Store on the ground floor of her family home in Kerrville, Texas. In 1919, Howard Edward Butt, Florence's youngest son, took over the store upon his return from World War I. Shortly after becoming owner of his mother's small store, Howard tried four expansions into Central Texas, including one in Junction, all of which failed. Finally, in 1927, Howard launched a successful second store in Del Rio, Texas, followed by the purchase of three grocery stores in the Lower Rio Grande Valley. The first initials of Howard E. Butt became the name of the store.
Bark on mature redwood trees of coastal California can vary from 4 to 18 inches in thickness. Redwood bark is thick, stringy and tough; and can cause sawmill machinery to malfunction. Men called peelers removed bark from fallen trees in the woods through the early 20th century, but the process was dangerous and labor intensive. In the mid-20th century hydraulic barkers were built at several large sawmills including the Union Lumber Company at Fort Bragg, California, the Northern Redwood Company at Korbel, and the Pacific Lumber Company at Scotia, California. The last was featured in a popular sawmill tour.
The Fifth Air Force (5 AF) is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Pacific Air Forces (PACAF). It is headquartered at Yokota Air Base, Japan. It is the U.S. Air Force's oldest continuously serving Numbered Air Force. The organization has provided 70 years of continuous air power to the Pacific since its establishment in September 1941.
John Jacob Astor was a merchant of New York City and founder of the American Fur Company. To create a chain of trading stations spread across the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Northwest, he incorporated an AFC subsidiary, the Pacific Fur Company. The commercial venture was originally designed to last for twenty years. Unlike its major competitor the Canadian owned NWC, the Pacific Fur Company was not a Joint-stock company. Capital for the PFC amounted to $200,000 divided into 100 shares individually valued at $2,000 and was funded entirely by Astor. The American Fur Company held half of the stock and the other half divided among prospective management and clerks. The chief representative of Astor in the daily operations was Wilson Price Hunt, a St. Louis businessman with no outback experience who received five shares. Each working partner was assigned four shares with the remaining shares held in reserve for hired clerks. Fellow partners in the venture were recruited from the NWC, the members being Alexander McKay, David Stuart, Duncan McDougall, and Donald Mackenzie. Astor and the partners met in New York on 23 June 1810 to sign the Pacific Fur Company's provisional agreement.
The advanced party was sent to create the initial base of operations at the mouth of the Columbia River. Necessary trade goods for deals with Indigenous and needed supplies to establish the station were shipped on the same vessel In addition to beginning the company headquarters, this party would block any attempts by the NWC to create a station in the area. The ship "Tonquin" was purchased by Astor in 1810 to start commercial operations on the Pacific Ocean. The majority of the company partners. Duncan McDougall, David and Robert Stuart, and Alexander McKay would head this detachment. In addition, clerks Gabriel Franchère and Alexander Ross would join them on the planned voyage.
The North West Company was unchallenged in the fur trade of the region from 1813 to 1821, when it was merged with the Hudson's Bay Company. During this period the company put into practice the system attempted by the Astorians' Pacific Fur Company. A supply ship arrived each spring at Fort George (Astoria). Fur brigades from the interior of the Columbia and New Caledonia districts would converge on Fort George each spring. Furs were loaded on the ship and supplies carried back to the interior. The ship would then carry the furs to Canton, China, where furs would be exchanged for tea and other goods, which were then carried to Britain, completing a global circuit. Company letters, reports, and personnel were generally conveyed overland along a route between Fort George and Fort William on Lake Superior, making use of Athabasca Pass. Later, under the Hudson's Bay Company, the York Factory Express used this route, reoriented to York Factory on Hudson Bay.
Ongoing supply issues faced by the Russian-American Company were seen as a means to gain more furs. Cargo ships en route from the Columbia were planned to then sail north for Russian America to bring much needed provisions. By cooperating with Russian colonial authorities to strengthen their material presence in Russian America, it was hoped by Astor to stop the NWC or any other British presence to be established upon the Pacific Coast. A tentative agreement for merchant vessels owned by Astor to ship furs gathered in Russian America into the Qing Empire was signed in 1812. Company ships then were directed to sail to the port of Guangzhou, where furs were then sold for impressive profits. Chinese products like porcelain, nankeens and tea were to be purchased; with the ships then to cross the Indian Ocean and head for European and American markets to sell the Chinese wares.