Ohio land Company, the
Soon after the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle an association of
London merchants and Vir ginia land speculators, known as “The Ohio land Company,” obtained from the crown a grant of 500,000 acres of land on the east bank of the
Ohio River, with the exclusive privilege of the
Indian traffic International, or at least intercolonial, disputes immediately occurred.
The
French claimed, by right of discovery, the whole region watered by the tributaries of the
Mississippi River.
The
English set up a claim, in the name of the Six Nations, as under British protection, and which was recognized by the treaties of
Utrecht (1713) and Aix-la-Chapelle (1748), to the region which they had formerly conquered, and which included the whole eastern portion of the
Mississippi Valley and the basin of the lower lakes,
Erie and
Ontario.
These conflict ing claims at once embarrassed the operations of the Ohio Land Company.
It was provided by their charter that they were to pay no quit-rent for ten years; to colonize at least 100 families within seven years;
and, at their own cost, to build and garrison a fort.
The government was anxious to carry out this scheme of colonization west of the
Alleghany Mountains to counteract the evident designs of the
French to occupy that country.
The
French took immediate measures to countervail the
English movements.
Galissoniere, who had grand dreams of French empire in
America, fitted out an expedition under
Celeron de Bienville in 1749 to proclaim French dominion at various points along the
Ohio.
The company took measures for defining and occupying their domain.
Thomas Lee, two of the Washingtons, and other leading
Virginia members ordered goods suitable for the
Indian trade to be sent from
London.
The company sent an agent to explore the country and confer with the
Indian tribes; and in June, 1752, a conference was held at Logstown, near the
Ohio, and friendly relations were established between the
English and the Indians.
But the
Western tribes refused to recognize the right of either the
English or the
French to lands westward of the
Alleghany Mountains.
A Delaware chief said to
Gist, the agent of the company, “The French claim all the land on one side of the river, and the
English claim all the land on the other side of the river: where is the
Indian's land?”
This significant question was answered by
Gist: “Indians and white men are subjects of the
British King, and all have an equal privilege in taking up and
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possessing the land.”
The company sent surveyors to make definite boundaries.
English settlers and traders went into the country.
The jealousy of the
French was aroused.
They seized and imprisoned some of the surveyors and traders, and built forts.
The
French and Indian War that broke out soon afterwards put a stop to the operations of the company.
See
French and Indian War;
Ohio Company. 
