Astoria: Astor and Jefferson’s Lost Pacific Empire by Peter Stark is the book selection for February 2017.  The Natural History Society book club will meet on Monday, February 27, from 3:30-5:00.  Contact Jean at jltnatural@saveland.org for location.

Astoria, a true adventure tale of the establishment of Fort Astoria at the mouth of the Columbia River,  describes incredible hardships experienced in the wilderness and at sea over the course of three years, 1810 to 1813.  John Jacob Astor and Thomas Jefferson were attempting to found a colony like Jamestown on the West Coast, to transform the United States into a Pacific trading power.  The members of the Astor Expeditions battled nature, starvation, and madness to establish the first American settlement in the Pacific Northwest.  The colony opened American eyes to the potential of the Western coast and its founders helped blaze the Oregon Trail.