Astor Expedition and Pacific Fur Company, 1810–1813

The overland party led by Wilson Price Hunt left the Missouri frontier in 1811 and attempted a difficult route across the Rockies. Poor planning divided the expedition and exposed travellers to hunger, winter and violence.

Fort Astoria was established at the Columbia but the War of 1812 and competition with the North West Company undermined the enterprise. Indigenous guides, traders and family members were essential to survival yet often marginalised in official accounts.

A Name of Her Own centres Marie Dorion and her children, shifting the expedition’s history from commercial ambition to the endurance of an Indigenous mother.