This is CBS Eye on the World. Here's John Batchelor.

I go to 1783, bound for Baltimore from Europe. On board, a young man who's a butcher's assistant.

His name is Johann Astor. He is bound for his relatives

and his friends in New York City via Baltimore. However, he is also the first millionaire,

multi-millionaire in the North American continent. And how he makes his money is the subject of a brand new book that I

recommend to everyone. It's a joy. Beaverland. How one weird rodent made America. Leila Philip is

the author. The professor is at the, is a professor of English department and environmental

studies program at the

College of the Holy Cross. We go now to Johann Jacob Aster, overhearing a conversation on deck.

Professor, a very good evening to you. Thank you very much. Congratulations. What did the young

Astor hear and what did he do with it? Good evening.

Oh, thank you so much for having me. This is just such a pleasure. Well, I just thought this was such a

fantastic story. So he's headed for the new world with seven flutes because his plan after

saving up money is to start a music business

in Manahatta, in Manhattan.

But he overhears these traders talking about something.

And they're talking about these staggeringly high prices they can make for a trade item

because the markup is something like even after

they subtract transportation costs, it's almost 900% profit they can make by transporting

this item that they can get easily in North America. If they ship it back to London and sell

it easily, they can make that kind of profit.

And he figures out that they're talking about beaver fur.

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