1782-1842 American explorer of the trans-Mississippi West. In 1810-12 Hunt lead a party called the Astorians—named after their sponsor, John Jacob Astor—up the Missouri River and across the continent in an effort to establish a fur...

The Pacific Fur Company was founded June 23, 1810, in New York City. Half of the stock of the company was held by the American Fur Company, owned exclusively by John Jacob Astor, and Astor provided all of the capital for the enterprise. The other half...