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*Includes pictures
*Includes contemporary accounts
*Includes online resources and a bibliography for further reading
In 1808, North West Company explorer Alexander Mackenzie traced the great Canadian river now bearing his name to the Arctic Ocean, disappointed that it did not empty, as expected, into the Pacific Ocean. This, however, was further incentive to look south and west, and at about the same time, North West Company trader and explorer David Thompson undertook a series of journeys of exploration that opened up a vast new territory comprising the upper Columbia River, British Columbia, Idaho and Montana.
From the other direction came the first significant figure representing American commerce, John Jacob Astor, a brash German immigrant destined to become the wealthiest man in America. At the age of 17, Astor moved to London to work for his eldest brother, George, a manufacturer of musical instruments. Three years later, he departed for the U.S. to seek his fortune, in possession of a few flutes and $25.00. Arriving at the port of Baltimore, he soon migrated north to New York City to join his brother, Henry. In 1785, he married Sarah Cox Todd, with whom he would raise seven children. In the following year, one decade after the signing of Jefferson
