DESPITE A SHORT LIFE and an unfortunate end, Astoria and the
Pacific Fur Company have never wanted for chroniclers. The As-
torians themselves sensed that their errand along the Columbia
meant something beyond pelts and profits. Gabriel Franchère, Ross
Cox, and Alexander Ross wrote book-length accounts of their ser-vice in the Northwest. Two other clerks--Alfred Seton and William
W. Matthews--also set down brief recollections of their days with
Astor's company. Taken with the diary of Alexander Henry the
younger, these traders' narratives make for a richly personal version
of Astoria's empire.

That empire got its first comprehensive treatment from the pen
of Washington Irving. In April 1832, Irving returned to his native
New York and acclaim as the premier American man of letters.
Seventeen years in Europe--years filled with business affairs and
diplomatic service--had been Irving's literary apprenticeship. Even
before leaving home in 1815 he had tilled the field of letters with
such productions as the satirical History of New York, ostensibly the
work of a scholar named Knickerbocker. But it took European
landscapes and a friendship with Sir Walter Scott to spark Irving's
love of romance and drama. Beginning with The Sketch Book ( 1819),

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