<P> In 1763, the Ohio Company sent a representative to petition the British Crown for a grant renewal . The plans for settlement and military development continued, with Henry Bouquet's 1764 plans to construct military posts around prospective western settlements . However, following Pontiac's War, land claims west of the Appalachian Mountains were forfeited to the Native American tribes in the Proclamation of 1763, requiring them to be re-purchased through King George III . </P> <P> In 1768, the British government authorized Sir William Johnson to make the Treaty of Fort Stanwix, purchasing land rights from the Iroquois, in accordance with the Proclamation of 1763 . Samuel Wharton and William Trent applied for a "despoiled traders" land grant in 1768, and to get approved by the British Crown, they joined with a number of other land speculators to form the Walpole Company, named for Thomas Walpole, a British lawyer involved in the endeavor . The goal was acquiring 2.5 million acres of Ohio Country land . Benjamin Franklin was one of the seventy - two shareholders, as well as included George Croghan and Sir William Johnson . The Walpole Company, Indiana Company, and members of the Ohio Company reorganized, and on December 22, 1769, formed the Grand Ohio Company . In 1772, the Grand Ohio Company received from the British government a grant of a large tract lying along the southern bank of the Ohio as far west as the mouth of the Scioto River . A colony to be called "Vandalia" was planned . However, the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War interrupted colonization and nothing was accomplished . The company, based in London, ceased operations in 1776 . </P> <P> The Ohio Company of Associates was organized in 1786, composed largely of New England veterans who had certificates for land from Congress for their services during the Revolution . </P>

They granted 200 000 acres of land in the ohio valley to the ohio company