The
Maritime Fur Trade was a ship-based
fur trade system that focused on acquiring furs of
sea otters and other animals from the
indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast and
natives of Alaska. The furs were mostly sold in China in exchange for tea, silks, porcelain, and other Chinese goods, which were then sold in Europe and the United States. The maritime fur trade was pioneered by the Russians, working east from
Kamchatka along the
Aleutian Islands to the southern coast of Alaska. British and Americans entered during the 1780s, focusing on what is now the
coast of British Columbia. The trade boomed around the turn of the 19th century. A long period of decline began in the 1810s. As the sea otter population was depleted, the maritime fur trade diversified and transformed, tapping new markets and commodities while continuing to focus on the Northwest Coast and China. It lasted until the middle to late 19th century. Russians controlled most of the coast of what is now Alaska during the entire era. The coast south of Alaska saw fierce competition between, and among, British and American trading vessels. The British were the first to operate in the southern sector, but were unable to compete against the Americans who dominated from the 1790s to the 1830s. The British
Hudson's Bay Company entered the coast trade in the 1820s with the intention of driving the Americans away. This was accomplished by about 1840. In its late period the maritime fur trade was largely conducted by the British
Hudson's Bay Company and the
Russian-American Company. The maritime fur trade brought the
Pacific Northwest coast into a vast, new
international trade network, centered on the north Pacific Ocean, global in scope, and based on
capitalism but not, for the most part, on
colonialism. A
triangular trade network emerged linking the
Pacific Northwest coast, China, the
Hawaiian Islands, Britain, and the United States. The trade had a major effect on the indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest coast, especially the
Aleut,
Tlingit,
Haida,
Nuu-chah-nulth, and
Chinook peoples. There was a rapid increase of wealth among the Northwest Coast natives, along with increased warfare,
potlatching, slaving, depopulation due to
epidemic disease, and enhanced importance of
totems and traditional nobility crests. The indigenous culture was not overwhelmed however but rather flourished, while simultaneously undergoing rapid change. The use of
Chinook Jargon arose during the maritime fur trading era and remains a distinctive aspect of Pacific Northwest culture. The most profitable furs were those of
sea otters, especially the northern sea otter. After the northern sea otter was hunted to
local extinction, maritime fur traders shifted to California until the southern sea otter was likewise nearly extinct. The British and American maritime fur traders took their furs to the Chinese port of
Canton, where they worked within the established
Canton System.
Ewing Young (
1799 - February 9, 1841) was an American trapper from
Tennessee who traveled the western
United States before settling in
Oregon Country. As a prominent citizen there, his death was the impetus for the early formation of government in that region. In 1830, Young led the first American trapping expedition to reach the Pacific Coast from New Mexico. After recuperating near Los Angeles, the group visited the
San Fernando Mission, and headed north into California's great
Central Valley. In California Young trapped and traded before returning to Taos. He would continue with this pattern until 1834 when Young encountered
Hall J. Kelley in San Diego. Kelley invited Ewing Young to accompany him north to Oregon, but Young at first declined. After re-thinking, Young agreed to travel with Kelley and they set out in July 1834. They arrived in Oregon in 1834, arriving at
Fort Vancouver on October 17th. Young settled on the west bank of the
Willamette River near the mouth of Chehalem Creek, opposite of
Champoeg. A few years later Young was the leader of the
Willamette Cattle Company that in January 1837 traveled to California with the assistance of Lieutenant
William A. Slacum on the ship
Loriot, and brought back 630 head of cattle along the
Siskiyou Trail helping to make Young the wealthiest settler in Oregon. In February of 1841, Young died without any known heir and without a will, creating a need for some form of government to deal with his estate, as he had many debtors and creditors among the settlers. The
activities that followed his death eventually led to the creation of a
provisional government in the Oregon Country.
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