Blood and Leather Podcast

Episode 8 - The Astorians’ Forgotten Return, Part I: From the Columbia to the Mountains

The Forgotten Return, Part I: From the Columbia to the Mountains This episode opens the two‑part saga of Robert Stuart and the Astorians as they attempt one of the most overlooked feats in American exploration: the 1812–1813 return journey from Astoria back toward the Rocky Mountains. Part I follows the party as they break from the Pacific Fur Company post, push up the Columbia River, and enter the rugged interior of the Pacific Northwest. You’ll follow Stuart’s small band as they navigate treacherous river corridors, negotiate with Indigenous nations, confront the early signs of a hard winter, and make the fateful decision to leave the water route behind and strike east toward the mountains. This first chapter sets the stage for the ordeal to come—an odyssey of hunger, cold, and near‑impossible terrain—while restoring a forgotten story to its rightful place in the history of transcontinental exploration.

Episode 7 - Hunt's Brutal 1811-1812 Trek Across Idaho and Oregon

In this episode we follow W.P. Hunt's expedition for John Jacob Astor's Pacific Fur Company as it travels the area from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean. They will face rapids, waterfalls, cliffs, treacherous mountain passes, hunger, thirst, and bitterly cold weather. This epic journey across the uncharted wilderness of Idaho and Oregon, the first such journey to be documented, ultimately led to the settlement of Oregon. But that's another story. Hope you enjoy it.

Episode 6 - Hunt’s Expedition Crosses the Plains in 1811

This episode finds Wilson Price Hunt's overland party of the American Fur Company approaching the Arikara village in modern day South Dakota. After a showdown with Manuel Lisa, Hunt finally heads across the plains, crossing the Bighorn Mountains and making it to the Green River valley at the foot of the Grand Tetons.

Episode 5 - Daniel Boone and John Colter Send Hunt into the Wilderness

The overland expedition of the Pacific Fur Company (American Fur Company), John Jacob Astor's ambitious project, gets underway but encounters numerous difficulties. In the process, Hunt meets two legendary men of the frontier, Daniel Boone and John Colter, as well as the Teton Sioux, who are intent on stopping his westward progress.

Episode 4 - John Jacob Astor, The Pacific Fur Company, Founding Astoria, and the Tonquin Explosion

In this episode we will explore the background of John Jacob Astor. His vision for a global trading empire resulted in the American Fur Company, the Pacific Fur Company, and the founding of Astoria, OR. His dream might have worked if not for an explosion of his ship, the Tonquin, in Clayoquot Sound on Vancouver Island, and the War of 1812.