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Updated: May 20, 2025
One New York newspaper, the "Journal," after stating that Astor's personal estate amounted to seven or nine million dollars, and his real estate to perhaps more, observed: "Either sum is quite out of our small comprehension; and we presume that with most men, the idea of one million is about as large an item as that of any number of millions."
I do not speak it in vanity, but simply record the fact, that I was not unemployed in my profession by the late John Jacob Astor; a name which, I admit, I love to repeat, for it hath a rounded and orbicular sound to it, and rings like unto bullion. I will freely add, that I was not insensible to the late John Jacob Astor's good opinion.
It's one of Marjorie's! "Huh!" says I. "Met her at Mrs. Astor's, I expect?" Skeet shuffles his feet and tries to look indignant. "Come on, give us the plot of the piece," says I, "or I'll call up Sister Maggie and put her on the stand. Where was it, now?" "If you must know," says Skeet sulky, "it was at Roselle's." "The tango factory?" says I. "Oh, I'm beginnin' to get the thread.
Not so, however, regarding the methods of the greatest and most successful of his fur gathering enterprises, the American Fur Company. The "popular writer" referred to before says that the circumstances of Astor's fur and shipping activities are well known. On the contrary, they are distinctly not well known nor have they ever been set forth.
During this period several books were published, among them a description of a tour on the prairies which he took soon after his return from abroad; a collection of "Legends of the Conquest of Spain" which had been lying in his trunk since his residence in the Alhambra seven or eight years before; and "Astoria," a book of Western life and adventure, describing John Jacob Astor's settlement on the Columbia river.
Discovery of the Columbia River. Carver's Project to Found a Settlement There. Mackenzie's Expedition. Lewis and Clarke's Journey Across the Rocky Mountains Mr. Astor's Grand Commercial Scheme. His Correspondence on the Subject With Mr. Jefferson. His Negotiations With the Northwest Company. His Steps to Carry His Scheme Into Effect.
The growth of the Astor library has been very slow, the annual income from what was left of Mr. Astor's $400,000 bequest, after defraying the cost of the library building, and the $100,000 expended for books at its foundation in 1848, having been so small as to necessitate a pinching economy, both in salaries of the library staff, and in the annual purchase of books.
Astor's example is one which will lead many to success, and none to injury. He was a thoroughly upright man, his transactions were rigidly honest; but as a man, candor compels the acknowledgment that he was not a safe or admirable model. He was utterly devoid of generosity. Liberal to an extreme with his own family, he was close and hard with others.
I am acting for the owners of the ship, and I cannot risk their property for a piece of paper that no one can read. Let one of the gentlemen draw up a draft in proper form; you sign it; and I will put you ashore." The old gentleman would not consent to this mode of proceeding, and the affair was dropped. A favorable wind blew the ship swiftly on her way, and Mr. Astor's alarm subsided.
But to Astor's eye the thing was as palpable then as now. And yet but two or three attempts had then been made to explore the overland routes." It would be deeply interesting to examine the details of this fast scheme of colonization and trade, for it is certain that Mr.
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