Hats and history.

One of the interesting things about history is how sometimes very little things can have a vast impact on history. Take, for instance, men's hat styles. In the mid 19th century, up into the 1840's beaver skin hats were the rage in Europe and America among wealthier men.

They were supplied with these hats by fur trappers who found an abundance of the furry little animals in the American west, but particularly in the Oregon territory. Unfortunately for American trappers, the British Hudson Bay fur company pretty much monopolized the best trapping lands, i.e. Oregon. This meant that they not only kept out rival traders, but also American settlers who were increasingly looking towards the Oregon country as prime settlement territory. They found themselves closed out by the Hudson Bay Company.

Then something interesting happened. As a result of the Opium Wars in China, that country was forced to open its doors to western traders. And one of the things these traders discovered right away, was silk. There was already some problem with the beaver trade because the animals were being over trapped, but the real change was the introduction of silk hats into Europe and America.

They quickly became the rage, and the fur trade collapsed. The Hudson Bay Company could no longer profitably trap the Oregon country and they pulled back, nearly bankrupt. The result was an almost immediate influx of American settlers into Oregon, think Oregon Trail.

                                                 (Mitchell Pass, where I grew up!!)

So, it was a change in men's hat styles that led to the settlement of Oregon and the later addition of that territory to our country. From such small things is history made.