Astoria: John Jacob Astor and Thomas Jefferson’s Lost Pacific Empire: A Story of Wealth, Ambition, and Survival by Peter Stark is a page-turning tale full of great adventures and a true story that was once well-known but until now was a forgotten piece of history.

In this remarkable book, Peter Stark tells us a story of America’s attempt to get a foothold on the West Coast. This was just 2 years after Lewis and Clarke has explored our Louisiana Purchase and continued on to the Pacific Northwest.

John Jacob Astor saw the potential for a commercial empire and President Jefferson liked the idea of extending his Louisiana Purchase (which only went as far as the Rockies) to the area of the Pacific Northwest. Since the United States was not in a position to actually do much, Jefferson could only encourage Astor’s ambition to found a Pacific trading empire as a part of the United States.

Astor was already rich because of his fur trade but saw an opportunity to multiply his riches by founding a Pacific trading empire with new sources of furs and easier access to the Chinese market. So John Jacob Astor financed two expeditions to the mouth of the Columbia River. The expeditions (one overland and one by sea) were to meet and found a trading post.

The trading post was called Astoria. And the city of Astoria still sits on the Oregon side of the Columbia River. But things did not work out as planned. Both expeditions had many problems and it was quite a feat to get to the founding of Astoria. But this is also the story of a lost Pacific empire and that is just as fascinating.

Several individuals in the expeditions kept journals. Astor collaborated with Washington Irving on a best-seller about these expeditions and the aftermath. Stark tells this story well and makes wonderful use of his sources.

I enjoy reading history but rarely have I come across a book that reads so well as an adventure. I enjoyed his book so much I have requested another book by the author from our library.