CkLMKINK : i'KNNSVIA ANIA I'x UN I ) \K^■ Ci tN I J<(i\ l.KsN . .")07 



l)itant the French claims were on the Continent ol" Anieriia ; that by 

 the description in said Ma\) they claimed a great part of Carolina and 

 Virginia, and laid down the Sus(|uehanna a§ a Boundary of Pennsyl- 

 vania." It was also notetl that, by the information of Indian traders 

 west of the Alleghanies, the French were endeavoring to " gain over " 

 the Indians to their interests. 



Pennsylvania was thus warned as early as 1731 that a powerful con- 

 tinental nation, with whi( h her iJarent kingdom was at jjeace, was 

 threatening a foothold u|ioii ferlile lands within her own charter 

 limits, undefined however until a later date. Disturbed for many 

 years bv a controversy with Lord Paltimore concerning her southern 

 boundary, and also by disagreements between the proprietary Gover- 

 nors and Provincial Assemblies, as well as by continuously embarrass- 

 ing relations as to her Indian affairs in her undoubted i)Ossessions and 

 settlements east of the mountains, for many years she made no effort 

 to repel the French intrusion. Not until Virginia, in 1748 and 

 1749, had taken the initiative in the establishment of the Ohio Com- 

 jjanv in the vicinity of the Pittsburgh of to-day, did Pennsylvania 

 manifest an interest in the subject. Where her western boundary 

 might lie she seemed to know little and care less. It was the Virginian 

 occupation in the \ears mentioned, resulting in the French and Indian 

 war, which brought to Pennsylvania a suggestion of watchfulness as to 

 her western boundary. ' 



In 1748, Thomas Lee, of the King's Council in Virginia, formed 

 the design of effecting settlements on the wild lands west of the Alle- 

 ghanies, through the agency of a land corporation called the Ohio 

 Company. Lawrence Washington and Augustine Washington, elder 

 brothers of (ieorge Washington, were interested in the scheme. A 

 grant was obtained from the I'^nglish king of five hundred thousand 

 acres of land, to be taken chiefly on the south side of the Ohio, between 

 the Monongahela and Kanawha rivers. Two hundred thousand acres 

 were to be selected immediately, and to be held for ten years free from 

 (juit-rents and taxes, on condition that the company should seat one 

 hundred families on the lands within seven years, and build a fort and 

 maintain a garrison sufficient to protect the settlements. 



In 1751, Christopher Gist was sent out from Virginia as the agent 

 of the Ohio company to explore the lands, and it was then doubtless 



'Crumrine's History of Wasliiiitjioii Comity, ]>. 140. 



