Wednesday, November 19, 2025
BY TRACY HOFFMAN
Now that my Washington Irving class has finished A Tour on the Prairies (1835) and a few chapters from Astoria (1836) and The Adventures of Captain Bonneville (1837), I’m left thinking about a few things:
1. Irving’s encounter with Canadian fur traders in Montreal when he was a boy
2. Irving’s relationship with John Jacob Astor
Irving begins Astoria looking back on a childhood episode as inspiration for wanting to know more about the fur trade. He writes: “I was at an age when the imagination lends its coloring to every thing, and the stories of these Sinbads of the wilderness made the life of a trapper and fur trader perfect romance to me” (179). Irving also laments not getting to travel with such men into the interior of the continent.
He continues: “I even meditated at one time a visit to the remote posts of the company in the boats which annually ascended the lakes and rivers, being thereto invited by one of the partners; and I have ever since regretted that I was prevented by circumstances from carrying my intention into effect” (179).
Also, in his introduction to the book, Irving tells the reader about a conversation some “two years ago, not long after my return from a tour upon the prairies of the far west” with John Jacob Astor (179). Irving calls Astor “my friend” (179). And indeed they were friends until Astor’s death in 1848. Irving biographer Andrew Burstein writes: “Irving was a pallbearer at his funeral in Manhattan, and an executor of his will…” (Burstein 313).
In their conversation, Astor shares with Irving his Astoria experiment “to carry the fur trade across the Rocky Mountains, and to sweep the shores of the Pacific” (179). And after digging deeper into the subject and learning about Irving’s decades-long interest in such matters, Astor’s wish comes to fruition: for Irving “to give an account of it” (180).
Irving manages Astor’s papers about Astoria, and he also ends up managing Astor’s will. Ironically, Irving often dealt with financial concerns of his own. Library of America’s chronology reminds us of his predicament in 1836, when he publishes Astoria: “Engages in several western land speculations that fail to yield returns he hopes for. Begins work on account of Bonneville’s travels, based on his journals” (976).
These “western land speculations” resonate with me, and I want to learn more about them. This thread of the west continues not only with writing a western trilogy, but also with his financial investments.
As he considers the writing challenge of relaying the history of Astoria, Irving says: “It occurred to me that a work of this kind might comprise a variety of those curious details, so interesting to me, illustrative of the fur trade; of its remote and adventurous enterprizes, and of the various people, and tribes, and castes, and characters, civilized and savage, affected by its operations” (180).
Irving’s list of things to study reminds me of all the things I still want to know about Irving and his writing, and also how I can stay interested in a subject for decades, just like Irving did.
It’s been a few years since I’ve picked up Irving’s western narratives, but I’ve especially enjoyed them this round. As always, Irving gives me more to research, more to teach, more than I will ever use in a lifetime. If you’ve never picked up Astoria, I would highly recommend at least reading through the short introduction. Less than a three-page read gives you plenty to consider about Irving, Astor, and the fur trade.
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Works Cited
Burstein, Andrew. The Original Knickerbocker: The Life of Washington Irving. Basic Books, 2007.
Irving, Washington. Astoria. Library of America, 2004. 163-16.
Ronda, James P. “Chronology.” Three Western Narratives. Library of America, 2004. 957-98.
Washington Irving Society 