Sheweth, That the said company, having at their great charge and expence, employed persons for above these two years past, to search and view the lands on the
Ohio, alias
Alligany River, as far westward as the
Twigtree Town, and to cultivate trade and friendship, with the several nations and tribes of Indians, inhabiting those parts, in order to seat the same, according to the condition of his Majesty's instruction, communicated to this Honourable Board, by his honour the late governor; and having also, at their great charge, cleared a
waggon road, from their storehouse at Will's Creek, to one of the branches of the Ohio, navigable by large flat-bottomed boats, which is the nearest, best, and almost only passage, through the great ridge of mountains, and consequently is of great benefit to the public: Your
1petitioners pray leave to survey and take up
their first two hundred thousand acres, between Romanettos, alias Kiskaminettas Creek, and the fork of the Ohio, and the great Conhaway, alias New River, alias Wood's River, on the south side of the said River Ohio, in as many surveys, as they shall think fit, your petitioners understanding the Indians are not willing any settlements, on the north side thereof, should be yet made; and as your petitioners make no doubt, but that they shall be able, not only to comply with the conditions of their first grant, in one year from this time, but to seat a much greater number of families, than they are obliged to, if your honours would permit them to take up
such small tracts of land, not exceeding one thousand acres, as lie in spots interspersed between the company's surveys, as they shall cause to be actually seated on, before the 25th of December, 1753, on the terms of your petitioners grant, or such other terms and conditions, as your Honours shall think reasonable, which your petitioners apprehend would be of great advantage, to his Majesty and his plantations, as it would be the most effectual means, to increase and secure their first settlements, which the encroachments of the French, and especially, the new fort built by them on the west end of Lake Erie, and on the south side thereof, the last year, render necessary, the same manifestly tending to interrupt your petitioners grant; and your petitioners, in order to settle a sufficient force, must, without such permission, be obliged to part with all their own lands, to encourage the settlement, contrary to the intent and agreement of the company, who did not enter into so expensive an undertaking, with a view of setting up for a company of landmongers, though several companies, of that sort, now trade in this colony, but with a view of making fortunes for their children, in a very hazardous undertaking, at a very great and certain expence,
whereas
the landmongers, by procuring an order of council, for a certain quantity of land, make surveys at so unreasonable a distance, as might include five hundred times the quantity, and it is presumed, under their grant, no person can interfere; when they meet with purchasers, so much land is taken up, and his Majesty's land is granted, to his subjects, not by a purchase from himself, but persons, who substitute themselves [as] his brokers, and receive the full value of them.