=Astor, John Jacob= (1763-1848). Founder of Astor Fur Company. =Index=: =Bk= Sends news of declaration of war in 1812, 204. =Bib.=: Bryce, _Hudson's Bay Company_; _Cyc. Am. Biog._ =Astor Fur Company.= =Index=: =D= Founds Astoria, 64. _See also_ Pacific Fur Company. =Astoria.= Established by Pacific Fur Company, 1811. Turned over to the North West Company, 1813, and renamed Fort George. The scene of Washington Irving's delightful narrative _Astoria_. The fort stood on the banks of the Columbia River, near its mouth. =Index=: =D= Acquired by North West Company, 71, 149; in possession of United States after War of 1812, 133-134; claimed by United States, 150; American flag raised over, 150. =Bib.=: Franchère, _Voyage to the North-West Coast of America_; Cox, _Adventures on the Columbia River_; Ross, _Adventures of First Settlers on Columbia River_; _Henry-Thompson Journals_, ed. by Coues; Bryce, _Hudson's Bay Company_; Bradbury, _Travels in the Interior of America in the Years 1809, 1810, and 1811_. =Astorians.= Name applied to members of the two expeditions fitted out by John Jacob Astor, to found trading establishment at the mouth of the Columbia. One party sailed around the Horn in the _Tonquin_; the other went overland by way of the Missouri and the Columbia. =Index=: =D= Their influence upon development of Pacific coast, 4; their first vessel, the _Tonquin_, captured by natives and the crew murdered, 1811, 37; the overland expedition, 71. _See also_ Pacific Fur Company; _Tonquin_. =Atahualpa.= =D= Vessel, attacked by Milbank Sound savages, 1805, 37. =Atalanta.= =Hd= Vessel in which Haldimand embarked for England, 309. =Atalante.= =WM= French frigate, loads stores at Sorel, 243. =Athabaska.= One of the provisional districts formed out of the North-West Territories in 1882; area about 122,000 square miles. Now divided between the provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta, forming the northern half of each. =Athabaska Lake.= First discovered by Peter Pond, about 1778. Ten years later the first trading post on the lake was built by Roderick McKenzie of the North West Company, and named Fort Chipewyan. It was afterwards moved to the north side of the lake. =Index=: Frobisher's men penetrate to, 5; importance of in fur trade, 21, 24; called Lake of the Hills, 24. =Athabaska Pass.= Discovered by David Thompson of the North West Company, in January, 1811. The pass was used thereafter by the traders as a route from the Athabaska to the Columbia. =Index=: =D= Discovered by David Thompson, 58. =Athabaska River.= Rises in the watershed range of the Rocky Mountains, close to the head waters of the north branch of the North Saskatchewan, and after a course of 765 miles empties into Athabaska Lake. Discovered by Peter Pond in 1778. =Index=: =MS= Pond builds post on, 21; named also Elk River and Rivière à la Biche, 21. =Atkins, D. A.= =S= Opens school at Napanee, 167. =Attignaouantans.= =Ch= Huron tribe (the Bears), 88, 91.