<P> Washington Irving, a prominent American writer with a European reputation, was approached by John Jacob Astor to mythologize the three - year reign of his Pacific Fur Company . Astoria (1835), written while Irving was Astor's guest, cemented the importance of the region in the American psyche . In Irving's words, the fur traders were "Sinbads of the wilderness", and their venture was a staging point for the spread of American economic power into both the continental interior and into the Pacific . </P> <P> As the Oregon Territory grew and became increasingly more colonized by Americans, Astoria likewise grew as a port city near the mouth of the great river that provided the easiest access to the interior . The first U.S. post office west of the Rocky Mountains was established in Astoria in 1847 and official state incorporation in 1876 . </P> <P> Astoria attracted a host of immigrants beginning in the late 19th century: Nordic settlers, primarily Finns, and Chinese soon became larger parts of the population . The Finns mostly lived in Uniontown, near the present - day end of the Astoria--Megler Bridge, and took fishing jobs; the Chinese tended to do cannery work, and usually lived either downtown or in bunkhouses near the canneries . By the late 1800s, 22% of Astoria's population was Chinese . </P> <P> In 1883, and again in 1922, downtown Astoria was devastated by fire, partly because it was mostly wood and entirely raised off the marshy ground on pilings . Even after the first fire, the same format was used, and the second time around the flames spread quickly again, as collapsing streets took out the water system . Frantic citizens resorted to dynamite, blowing up entire buildings to stop the fire from going further . </P>

Where did the first settlers of astoria move there from