As the Mackinaw Company still continued its rivalry, and as the fur trade would not advantageously admit of competition, he made a new arrangement in 1811, by which, in conjunction with certain partners of the Northwest Company, and other persons engaged in the fur trade, he bought out the Mackinaw Company, and merged that and the American Fur Company into a new association, to be called the “Southwest Company.”  This he likewise did with the privity and approbation of the American government.

By this arrangement Mr. Astor became proprietor of one half of the Indian establishments and goods which the Mackinaw Company had within the territory of the Indian country in the United States, and it was understood that the whole was to be surrendered into his hands at the expiration of five years, on condition that the American Company would not trade within the British dominions.

Unluckily, the war which broke out in 1812 between Great Britain and the United States suspended the association; and, after the war, it was entirely dissolved; Congress having passed a law prohibiting the British fur traders from prosecuting their enterprises within the territories of the United States.

CHAPTER III.

     Fur Trade in the Pacific—­American Coasting Voyages—­Russian
     Enterprises.—­Discovery of the Columbia River.—­Carver’s
     Project to Found a Settlement There.—­Mackenzie’s
     Expedition.—­Lewis and Clarke’s Journey Across the Rocky
     Mountains—­Mr. Astor’s Grand Commercial Scheme.—­His
     Correspondence on the Subject With Mr. Jefferson.—­His
     Negotiations With the Northwest Company.—­His Steps to Carry
     His Scheme Into Effect.

While the various companies we have noticed were pushing their enterprises far and wide in the wilds of Canada, and along the course of the great western waters, other adventurers, intent on the same objects, were traversing the watery wastes of the Pacific and skirting the northwest coast of America.  The last voyage of that renowned but unfortunate discoverer, Captain Cook, had made known the vast quantities of the sea-otter to be found along that coast, and the immense prices to be obtained for its fur in China.  It was as if a new gold coast had been discovered.  Individuals from various countries dashed into this lucrative traffic, so that in the year 1792, there were twenty-one vessels under different flags, plying along the coast and trading with the natives.  The greater part of them were American, and owned by Boston merchants.  They generally remained on the coast and about the adjacent seas, for two years, carrying on as wandering and adventurous a commerce on the water as did the traders and trappers on land.  Their trade extended along the whole coast from California to the high northern latitudes.  They would run in near shore, anchor, and wait for the natives to come off in their canoes