Michigan historical collections . groutids of the wilderness, they made, together with the local contin-gent employed the year through, a force of some twenty-five hundredmen, all representing the work of the great organization. The com-panys warehouses, stores, offices and boat-yards occupied much of thetown plat. The present summer hotel. The John Jacob Astor, wasoriginally built for their business, furnishing quarters for the housingof their men, particularly at the great summer gatherings, and alsoware-rooms where the peltries were weighed and packed and kept instorage. The American Fur Co
Michigan historical collections . groutids of the wilderness, they made, together with the local contin-gent employed the year through, a force of some twenty-five hundredmen, all representing the work of the great organization. The com-panys warehouses, stores, offices and boat-yards occupied much of thetown plat. The present summer hotel. The John Jacob Astor, wasoriginally built for their business, furnishing quarters for the housingof their men, particularly at the great summer gatherings, and alsoware-rooms where the peltries were weighed and packed and kept instorage. The American Fur Company continued to flourish at Mackinac for aperiod of some twenty years. Mr. Robert Stuart,^ a well-known figure ^ For sketch of Robert Stuart see Michigan Pioneer and Historical Collections, Vol. 3p. 52. EARLY FUR TRADE IN NORTH AMERICA. 71 in the northwest during the first half of last century, was the resi-dent partner and manager of the great business there, and was a lead-ing citizen of the island for about seventeen ROBERT STUART. In 1834 Mr. Astor sold his interest, and the business declined. Atlength the company withdrew entirely from the island, and for the re-mainder of its career was simply an agency for handling furs in NewYork. The old warehouses and other quarters of the company, oncethe scene of activity and bustle, stood only as mute witnesses to aformer life, until removed or reconstructed and put to other uses. In the Astor House on the island there are two large copy-volumesof letters written from the companys office at Mackinac, and datingfrom a period the most flourishing in its history. These old books in-terest many of the summer guests to-day. Also belonging to the samehotel, and preserved as relics, are an old-fashioned, high-legged desk atwhich one of the clerks used to work in the companys palmy days, andan old style scales or balances which was used in weighing the peltriesas they were packed and bound for storage or for shipment. The fur tr
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Keywords: ., bookauthormichigan, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, bookyear1876
