The Story of John Jacob Astor and how Michigan Made His Fortune.
John Jacob Astor was a man that many today consider the first multi-millionaire in the United States. His personal fortune was made from various types of businesses, most notably in the fur trade. The implementation of his business sense in a society that had not seen anything of the sort is the reason that he today is considered one of the founding fathers of "Big Business." After coming to America in 1784, he was able to come across advice on how lucrative the fur trading business would and can be. Astor turned this advice into a reality. The fur trade was to be the beginning of something that would hit on more fronts than just the introduction of a nation wide business, but to be used as a tool in the convincing of the Native Americans to come and side with the U.S. as the British occupation in Northern Michigan was beginning to subside, and the beginning of the Canadian intervention in the influence of the Native Americans was beginning to start. Not only did Astor use his corporation the American Fur Company to make his millions from the Fur Trade, but he also implemented the beginning of the fishing industry. Using Lake Superior, Astor knew that there would be a market for the fish that these Great Lakes held. In the following text you will see the impact that John Jacob Astor had on various sectors, not just in business, but in politics and economics. His businesses throughout the state of Michigan gave way to the notoriety of the Great Lakes and the commerce that Michigan could produce.
The American Fur Company was a corporation that at the time was a factor that really went underestimated until today we can look back and see its real significance. The agents of the company included some of the foremost business men of the day. The main concentration of the business was furs, skins, and buffalo robes, which it secured from Indians and whites by means of factors throughout the length of the present territory of the U.
