The Fur Trade
As Ledyard had noticed that sea otter furs from the American northwest commanded extremely high prices in Macau, he lobbied during the early 1780s for the formation of fur-trading companies. Ledyard suggested trading furs for Chinese silk and porcelain, which could then be sold in the United States. Although his abortive partnership with Philadelphia financier Robert Morris was not successful, it did lay the pattern of the subsequent China trade.
Ledyard left the United States in June 1784 to find financial backers in Europe. In Paris he partnered with Captain John Paul Jones; however this venture, too, failed to reach fruition.
Read more about this topic: John Ledyard
Famous quotes containing the words fur and/or trade:
“How coyote got his
ratty old fur coat
bits of old fur
the sparrows stuck on him
with dabs of pitch.
That was after he lost his proud original one in a poker game.”
—Leslie Marmon Silko (b. 1948)
“And trade is art, and art’s philosophy,
In Paris.”
—Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–1861)