S. Its minor interests were those of the fisheries of Lake Superior, the maple sugar industry, the lead trade, the sale of flour, and steam boating on the Western Waters (Nute 519). .
The fur trade was the largest in the country until 1834, and in fact Astor had a two-thirds interest in the trade of the United States. Before the American Fur Company was chartered Astor had conducted his business without having any real formal organization. As he continued moving his operations farther into the Great Lakes region most notably Michigan, he was met with the competition of the British corporations, he then decided to give his business a more formal notoriety. After receiving a charter from the state of New York, the American Fur Company was then formed. Astor saw The Mackinaw Company, a British owned corporation in the Straits of Mackinac area, as a serious competitor, so why not buy them out. Astor did just that. In 1811, along with some other investors, he bought out The Mackinaw Company (also referred to as the Michilimackinac Company (Pratt 249)), and proceeded to do business in the Straits of Mackinac area, most notably with a woman named Madam La Fromboise, who ran a good deal of the Mackinac business, and is seen as the first woman pioneer in the Michigan fur trading industry.
Astor saw the state of Michigan as a place where he could utilize the woods and waters that inhabited the land. This stroke of genius was utilized on more fronts than just using the environment that Michigan had. He looked at the Native American population as the basis for how he could make a fortune from practically nothing. "The Indian trade was but slightly influenced by a trade-morality even of the mildest sort, so that the ignorance of the Indian, combined with his susceptibility to drink and finery, delivered him over to the greater or less cupidity of the white man." (Youngman 347) This portrayal of the Indian enabled the American Fur Company to obtain furs at prices that are seen as almost nothing, and allowed Astor to sell the furs at prices to the white man that would equal profits of almost 1000% per fur.
