 Before 1816 the majority of the fur trading posts in the Minnesota area were owned by the North West Company , but by 1821 the American Fur Company , founded in 1808 by John Jacob Astor in New York , had taken over most of these . As well as Grand Portage , another significant fur shipping point in Minnesota was Fort Frances in the <unk> Lake region , near modern International Falls in the far north of the state . This location became significant as it was key to multiple waterways for shipping furs to the Atlantic . Both the North West Company and the American Fur Company had posts at this location . Pembina , originally part of the Red River Colony , was a significant trading post for the Hudson 's Bay Company , and once it was claimed by the U.S. , became for a time key to U.S. interests in the fur trade . By 1830 American Fur dominated the trade within the United States because of the exclusion of British companies by the U.S. government . 
