Editing Oregon Trail (section)

===Pacific Fur Company===
{{Main|Pacific Fur Company}}

Founded in 1810 by [[John Jacob Astor]] as a subsidiary of his [[American Fur Company]] (AFC), the [[Pacific Fur Company]] (PFC) operated in the [[Pacific Northwest]] in the [[North American fur trade]]. Two movements of PFC employees were planned by Astor: one sent to the Columbia River aboard the merchant ship ''[[Tonquin (1807)|Tonquin]],'' the other dispatched overland under an expedition led by [[Wilson Price Hunt]]. Hunt and his party were to find possible supply routes and trapping territories for further [[fur trade|fur trading]] posts. Upon arriving at the river in March 1811, the ''Tonquin'' crew began building what became [[Fort Astoria]]. The ship left supplies and men to continue work on the station and ventured north up the coast to [[Clayoquot Sound]] for a trading expedition. While anchored there, [[Jonathan Thorn]] insulted an elder [[Tla-o-qui-aht First Nations|Tla-o-qui-aht]] who was previously elected by the natives to negotiate a mutually satisfactory price for animal pelts. Soon after, the vessel was attacked and overwhelmed by the indigenous Clayoquot, killing many of the crew. Its [[Quinault people|Quinault]] interpreter survived and later told the PFC management at Fort Astoria of the destruction. The next day, the ship was blown up by surviving crew members.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url = http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/articles/tonquin |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130606010101/http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/articles/tonquin |title = Tonquin |encyclopedia = The Canadian Encyclopedia |archive-date = June 6, 2013 |url-status = dead |access-date = May 11, 2013 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=wR_-aSFyvuYC&q=tonquin |title = The Canadian Encyclopedia |last = Marsh |first = James H. |date = 1999 |publisher = The Canadian Encyclopedia |isbn = 9780771020995 |language = en }}</ref>
[[File:U.S. Territorial Acquisitions.png|thumb|[[United States territorial acquisitions|U.S. territorial acquisitions]]{{endash}}portions of each territory were granted statehood since the 18th century.]]
Under Hunt, fearing attack by the [[Niitsitapi]], the overland expedition veered south of Lewis and Clark's route into what is now Wyoming and in the process passed across [[Union Pass]] and into [[Jackson Hole]], Wyoming. From there they went over the [[Teton Range]] via [[Teton Pass]] and then down to the Snake River into modern [[Idaho]]. They abandoned their horses at the Snake River, made dugout canoes, and attempted to use the river for transport. After a few days' travel, they soon discovered that steep canyons, waterfalls, and impassable rapids made travel by river impossible. Too far from their horses to retrieve them, they had to cache most of their goods and walk the rest of the way to the Columbia River where they made new boats and traveled to the newly established Fort Astoria. The expedition demonstrated that much of the route along the Snake River plain and across to the Columbia was passable by pack train or with minimal improvements, even wagons.<ref>{{cite web |title = Map of Astorian expedition, Lewis and Clark expedition, Oregon Trail, etc. in Pacific Northwest, etc |url = http://www.oregon.com/history/oregon_trail_maps.cfm |publisher = oregon.com |access-date = December 31, 2008 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090202113800/http://www.oregon.com/history/oregon_trail_maps.cfm |archive-date = February 2, 2009}}</ref> This knowledge would be incorporated into the concatenated trail segments as the Oregon Trail took its early shape.

Pacific Fur Company partner [[Robert Stuart (explorer)|Robert Stuart]] led a small group of men back east to report to Astor. The group planned to retrace the path followed by the overland expedition back up to the east following the Columbia and Snake Rivers. Fear of a Native American attack near Union Pass in Wyoming forced the group further south where they discovered South Pass, a wide and easy pass over the Continental Divide. The party continued east via the [[Sweetwater River (Wyoming)|Sweetwater River]], [[North Platte River]] (where they spent the winter of 1812–13), and [[Platte River]] to the Missouri River, finally arriving in St. Louis in the spring of 1813. The route they had used appeared to potentially be a practical wagon route, requiring minimal improvements, and Stuart's journals provided a meticulous account of most of the route.<ref>{{cite book |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=iefDlnjDeQgC |title = The Discovery of the Oregon Trail: Robert Stuart's Narratives of His Overland Trip Eastward from Astoria in 1812–13 |last = Rollins |first = Philip Ashton |publisher = University of Nebraska |year = 1995 |isbn = 978-0-8032-9234-5 }}</ref> Because of the [[War of 1812]] and the lack of U.S. fur trading posts in the Pacific Northwest, most of the route was unused for more than 10 years.