Scioto Company

[1][2] Duer worked with a British colleague and several French men to register and organize the company in Paris, France.

Ostensibly working with the Ohio Company to purchase land in the Northwest Territory, agents of this institution sold worthless deeds to French people intending to emigrate to the United States.

The Scioto Land Company was founded by American speculator Colonel William Duer and others in 1787 after the Northwest Territory was organized.

It was officially established in 1789 as the Compagnie du Scioto in Paris by American Joel Barlow; William Playfair, a Scot who was the agent of Duer and his associates abroad; plus six Frenchmen.

The developer had built rude huts for the group, who were mostly urban residents with few skills to survive on the undeveloped frontier.

In 1795, the Ohio Company sold to the French settlers for $1.25 an acre ($309/km2) the land they occupied and adjacent improved lots.

The proposed purchase by the Scioto Company is shown in red. The proposed purchase by the Ohio Company is in blue. The final purchase by the Ohio Company is in green. The French Grant is orange.
Shape and subdivision of the French Grant