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 trading station at the mouth of the Columbia River. This was the second group, after Lewis and Clark, to attempt such a trek. The Astorians suffered incredible hardships while pioneering what would become the Oregon Trail, proving that there was no easy way to reach the Pacific coast via the river systems.