Sign-In
Cart
Astoria: Astor and Jefferson's Lost Pacific Empire: A Tale of Ambition and Survival on the Early American Frontier
Paperback
Hiking & Climbing19th Century United States HistoryExploration
Publisher Price: $19.99
ISBN13: 9780062218308
Publisher: Ecco Press
Published: Feb 10 2015
Pages: 400
Weight: 0.75
Height: 1.00 Width: 5.25 Depth: 8.00
Language: English
In the tradition of The Lost City of Z and Skeletons in the Zahara, Astoria is the thrilling, true-adventure tale of the 1810 Astor Expedition, an epic, now forgotten, three-year journey to forge an American fur-trading empire on the Pacific Coast. Peter Stark offers a harrowing saga of survival in which a band of explorers battled nature, starvation, and madness to establish the first American settlement in the Pacific Northwest and opened up what would become the Oregon trail, a pivotal moment in U.S. westward expansion that permanently altered the nation's landscape and its global standing.
Six years after Lewis and Clark's journey to the Pacific Northwest began, two of the Eastern establishment's leading figures, John Jacob Astor and Thomas Jefferson, turned their sights to founding a colony akin to Jamestown on the West Coast and transforming the nation into a Pacific trading power. Author and correspondent for Outside magazine Peter Stark recreates this pivotal moment in 19th-century American history for the first time for modern readers, drawing on original source material to tell the amazing true story of the Astor Expedition.
Unfolding over the course of three years, from 1810 to 1813, Astoria is a tale of high adventure and incredible hardship on the American frontier, both in the wilderness and at sea. Of the more than one hundred-forty members of the two advance parties that reached the West Coast--one crossing the Rockies, the other rounding Cape Horn--nearly half perished by violence. Others went mad. Within one year, the expedition successfully established Fort Astoria, a trading post on the Columbia River. Though the colony would be short-lived, it opened provincial American eyes to the potential of the Western coast and its founders helped blaze the Oregon Trail.
Drawing on firsthand accounts, this epic survival story uncovers the brutal reality of a venture that changed America forever:
- Two Epic Journeys: One party's harrowing overland trek across the Rockies, and another's perilous sea voyage around Cape Horn--both converging on a single, dangerous prize.
- High-Stakes Global Trade: The grand ambition of John Jacob Astor and Thomas Jefferson to build a commercial empire that would rival the British and transform the United States into a Pacific power.
- A Brutal Fight for Survival: A gripping account of the battles against starvation, madness, and violence that claimed nearly half the expedition's members.
- A Forgotten Chapter of History: The forgotten saga of Fort Astoria, the first American settlement in the Pacific Northwest, and how its founders helped blaze what would become the Oregon Trail.
Also in
19th Century United States History
A Manufactured Wilderness: Summer Camps and the Shaping of American Youth, 1890-1960
Van Slyck, Abigail A.
Hardcover
The Wreck of the Mentor: A True Story of Death, Despair, and Deliverance in the Age of Sail
Dolin, Eric Jay
Hardcover
The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America
Larson, Erik
Paperback
The Rush: California Gold, the Civil War, and the Making of the Modern World
Philbrick, Nathaniel
Hardcover
The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War
Larson, Erik
Paperback
They Stole a City: Wilmington's White Supremacist Coup and the Families Who Live with Its Legacy
Collins, Lauren
Hardcover
Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History
Gwynne, S. C.
Paperback
A Perfect Coincidence: The Extraordinary Friendship and Astonishing Deaths of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson
Rasenberger, Jim
Hardcover
Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West
Ambrose, Stephen E.
Paperback
Empire of Ink: The Printers, Rogues, and Radicals Who Invented the American Newspaper
Wright, Alex
Hardcover
Glorious Country: How the Artist Frederic Church Brought the World to America and America to the World
Johnson, Victoria
Hardcover
Centennial: The Great Fair of 1876 and the Invention of America's Future
Bordewich, Fergus M.
Hardcover
In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex (National Book Award Winner)
Philbrick, Nathaniel
Paperback
Chasing Lewis's Monkeyflower: The Amazing Afterlife of the Lewis and Clark Expedition's Wild Plants
Adelman, Elizabeth
Hardcover
The Flag Was Still There: A History of the American Experiment in Five Anniversaries
McKean, David
Bennett, M. Todd
Hardcover
Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President
Millard, Candice
Paperback
The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War
Larson, Erik
Hardcover
The Rush: California Gold, the Civil War, and the Making of the Modern World (Large Print Edition)
Philbrick, Nathaniel
Paperback
Jefferson's Wolf: A Founding Father's Troubling Answer to the Problem of Slavery
Dierksheide, Christa
Guyatt, Nicholas
Hardcover
Brothers of the Gun: Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, and a Reckoning in Tombstone
Gardner, Mark Lee
Hardcover
The Undiscovered Country: Triumph, Tragedy, and the Shaping of the American West
Hutton, Paul Andrew
Hardcover
How the South Won the Civil War: Oligarchy, Democracy, and the Continuing Fight for the Soul of America
Richardson, Heather Cox
Paperback
We Pointed Them North: Recollections of a Cowpuncher
Abbott, E. C. Teddy Blue
Smith, Helena Huntington
Paperback
The Pioneers: The Heroic Story of the Settlers Who Brought the American Ideal West
McCullough, David
Paperback
The Murder of the Century: The Gilded Age Crime That Scandalized a City and Sparked the Tabloid Wars
Collins, Paul
Paperback
Midnight on the Potomac: The Last Year of the Civil War, the Lincoln Assassination, and the Rebirth of America
Ellsworth, Scott
Hardcover
We've Been Here Before: How Rebellion and Activism Have Always Sustained America
Days, Michael I.
Dodson, Angela P.
Hardcover
Mornings on Horseback: The Story of an Extraordinary Family, a Vanished Way of Life and the Unique Child Who Became Theodore Roosevelt
McCullough, David
Paperback
Ghosts of Gold Mountain: The Epic Story of the Chinese Who Built the Transcontinental Railroad
Chang, Gordon H.
Paperback
Out Where the West Begins: Profiles, Visions, and Strategies of Early Western Business Leaders
Anschutz, Philip F.
Hardcover
The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America
Larson, Erik
Hardcover
Mountain Man: John Colter, the Lewis & Clark Expedition, and the Call of the American West
Marshall, David Weston
Paperback
Vengeance: The Last Stands of Custer, Crazy Horse, and Sitting Bull (Large Print Edition)
Clavin, Tom
Hardcover
America: The Last Best Hope (Volume I): From the Age of Discovery to a World at War
Bennett, William J.
Paperback
John Doe Chinaman: A Forgotten History of Chinese Life Under American Racial Law
Lew-Williams, Beth
Hardcover
Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant Volume 1/2: Large Print Edition (Large Print Edition)
Grant, Ulysses S.
Hardcover
When America First Met China: An Exotic History of Tea, Drugs, and Money in the Age of Sail
Dolin, Eric Jay
Paperback
Forget the Alamo: The Rise and Fall of an American Myth
Tomlinson, Chris
Stanford, Jason
Burrough, Bryan
Paperback
Wilmington's Lie (Winner of the 2021 Pulitzer Prize): The Murderous Coup of 1898 and the Rise of White Supremacy
Zucchino, David
Paperback
The Man Behind the Cane: Preston Brooks, Political Violence, and the Road to the Civil War
Quigley, Paul
Hardcover
Scenes of Subjection: Terror, Slavery, and Self-Making in Nineteenth-Century America
Hartman, Saidiya
Paperback
Out Where the West Begins, Volume 2: Creating and Civilizing the American West Volume 2
Anschutz, Philip F.
Hardcover
The First to Go West: American Ambition, Bloody Conquest, and the Fateful Journey of Jedediah Smith
Clavin, Tom
Drury, Bob
Paperback
Contempt of Court: The Turn-Of-The-Century Lynching That Launched a Hundred Years of Federalism
Curriden, Mark
Phillips, Leroy
Paperback
The Heart of Everything That Is: The Untold Story of Red Cloud, an American Legend
Drury, Bob
Clavin, Tom
Paperback
Nothing Like It in the World: The Men Who Built the Transcontinental Railroad 1863-1869
Ambrose, Stephen E.
Paperback
Black, White, Colored: The Hidden Story of an Insurrection, a Family, a Southern Town, and Identity in America
Noble, Lauretta Malloy
Noble, Leeanet
Hardcover
Appetite for America: Fred Harvey and the Business of Civilizing the Wild West--One Meal at a Time
Fried, Stephen
Paperback
For the Hope of this Land: A Visual Learner's Workbook for Early American History
Newhouse, Amy
Paperback
Reminiscences of My Life in Camp with the 33D United States Colored Troops, Late
Taylor, Susie King
Paperback
Saving Yellowstone: Exploration and Preservation in Reconstruction America
Nelson, Megan Kate
Hardcover
Wakara's America: The Life and Legacy of a Native Founder of the American West
Mueller, Max Perry
Hardcover
An American Genocide: The United States and the California Indian Catastrophe, 1846-1873
Madley, Benjamin
Paperback
Her Hat Was in the Ring: How Women Won the Right to Run for Office in the United States
Norgren, Jill
Chmielewski, Wendy E.
Hardcover
Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant Volume 2/2: Large Print Edition (Large Print Edition)
Grant, Ulysses S.
Hardcover
Slavery by Another Name (Pulitzer Prize Winner): The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II
Blackmon, Douglas A.
Paperback
Native American History: Accurate & Comprehensive History, Origins, Culture, Tribes, Legends, Mythology, Wars, Stories & More of The Native Indigenous
Alive, History Brought
Paperback
African American History: A Captivating Guide to the People and Events that Shaped the History of the United States
History, Captivating
Paperback
Last Seen: The Enduring Search by Formerly Enslaved People to Find Their Lost Families
Giesberg, Judith
Hardcover
The Last Stand: Custer, Sitting Bull, and the Battle of the Little Bighorn
Philbrick, Nathaniel
Paperback
I Am Murdered: George Wythe, Thomas Jefferson, and the Killing That Shocked a New Nation
Chadwick, Bruce
Paperback
Bandit Heaven: The Hole-In-The-Wall Gangs and the Final Chapter of the Wild West
Clavin, Tom
Paperback
Last Seen: The Enduring Search by Formerly Enslaved People to Find Their Lost Families
Giesberg, Judith
Paperback
Death in the Haymarket: A Story of Chicago, the First Labor Movement and the Bombing That Divided Gilded Age America
Green, James
Paperback
Glitz, Glam, and a Damn Good Time: How Mamie Fish, Queen of the Gilded Age, Partied Her Way to Power
Wright, Jennifer
Hardcover
Until Justice Be Done: America's First Civil Rights Movement, from the Revolution to Reconstruction
Masur, Kate
Paperback
The Improbable Victoria Woodhull: Suffrage, Free Love, and the First Woman to Run for President
Collinsworth, Eden
Hardcover
Ghosts of the Wild West: Stories from Deadwood, Tombstone, and the Old Frontier
Fowler, Natalie
Freeburg, Jessica
Paperback
Thunder in the Mountains: Chief Joseph, Oliver Otis Howard, and the Nez Perce War
Sharfstein, Daniel J.
Paperback
Promised Land, Crusader State: The American Encounter with the World Since 1776
McDougall, Walter
Paperback
The Undiscovered Country: Triumph, Tragedy, and the Shaping of the American West
Hutton, Paul Andrew
Paperback
Until the Last Yoke Is Broken: The Constitutional Vision of Frederick Douglass
Rebeiro, Bradley N.
Hardcover
The Apache Wars: The Hunt for Geronimo, the Apache Kid, and the Captive Boy Who Started the Longest War in American History
Hutton, Paul Andrew
Paperback
Acts of Love: Black Performance and the Kiss That Changed Film History
Field, Allyson Nadia
Paperback
American Infidelity: The Gilded Age Battle Over Freethought, Free Love, and Feminism
Green, Steven K.
Hardcover
Trail of Tears: A Captivating Guide to the Forced Removals of Cherokee, Muscogee Creek, Seminole, Chickasaw, and Choctaw nations
History, Captivating
Hardcover
Beyond the Hundredth Meridian: John Wesley Powell and the Second Opening of the West
Stegner, Wallace
Paperback
Nineteen Reservoirs: On Their Creation and the Promise of Water for New York City
Sante, Lucy
Paperback
Vested Interests: Trusteeship and Native Dispossession in the United States
Connolly, Emilie
Hardcover
Where Custer Fell: Photographs of the Little Bighorn Battlefield Then and Now
Barnard, Sandy
Brust, James S.
Pohanka, Brian C.
Paperback
The Man from the Train: Discovering America's Most Elusive Serial Killer
James, Rachel McCarthy
James, Bill
Paperback
The Rise and Fall of the Second American Republic: Reconstruction, 1860-1920
Sinha, Manisha
Paperback
The Republic for Which It Stands: The United States During Reconstruction and the Gilded Age, 1865-1896
White, Richard
Paperback
The Wizard of Menlo Park: How Thomas Alva Edison Invented the Modern World
Stross, Randall E.
Paperback
Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America
Kendi, Ibram X.
Hardcover
The War on Illahee: Genocide, Complicity, and Cover-Ups in the Pioneer Northwest
Carpenter, Marc James
Hardcover
How the South Won the Civil War: Oligarchy, Democracy, and the Continuing Fight for the Soul of America
Richardson, Heather Cox
Hardcover