Entrepreneurs, most notably John Jacob Astor, had quickly seized the opportunity and expanded fur trading operations into the Pacific Northwest.

Astor's "Fort Astoria" (later Fort George), at the mouth of the Columbia River, becomes the first permanent white settlement in this area, although it is not profitable for Astor.

He sets up the American Fur Company in an attempt to break the hold that the Hudson's Bay Company monopoly has over the region.

By 1820, Astor had taken over independent traders to create a profitable monopoly; he will leave the business as a multi-millionaire in 1834.