Letter from John May to Samuel Beall, 29 April 1780

(1 Ap^l 29^th 1780

D^r Sir

I wrote you a few Days ago, since w^ch I have received your two Favours with the warrants of Survey therein mentioned and also one other without warrants. The Scenes of Inequity respecting Lands which daily present themselves to me, are really astonishing, but I am determined to mind my own Business and not trouble myself with other Peoples, except where I am to be admitted as a Partner, upon the Esta-blishing any Claims. I have taken a number of Pre-Emptive Certificates as p^r [?] herewith sent, to clear out upon shares & shall be obliged to you if you will pay the Price of the warrants, take them out and send them by Major George Thompson Upon this Plan we shall be sure of making very considerable Profit, there being no Land in this Country worth less than 20/. p^r Acre; and the best Kind as many Pounds, where it is lies convenient to the Falls of Ohio: and the Land mentioned in these Certificates being generally choice Places, ^will I presume, be worth eight or ten Pounds p^r Acre in Case the Pre-Emptions shall be esta-bished. The Law under which they are granted was passed at the last Session of Assembly to prolong the Term of the Commissioners sitting till the 26^th Instant, but no Time is allowed for paying the State Price & taking out the Pre Emption warrants; so that as the Laws now stand if a man does not take out his warrant by the last Day of the Commissioners sitting, he forfeits his Right: This Absurdity is so great that the Assembly will certainly take up the Matter & make that Provision w^ch they omitted at the passing of the last Law. It will be necessary to apply ^to the Assembly for that Purpose before any Money is paid, as there are numbers of People who are determined to locate their State warrants upon those Lands. I have written to the attorney on this subject and you will do well to consult with him. I have located all our ^Military warrants at or near the Ohio & Green River where it is navigable, [on their?] most valuabe Bottoms; most of them in large Tracts. Some of them lie remote from the present settlements, & on that Account are not so highly prized as other Lands, but to me they appear much more valuable

than any Land can be, which lies at a Distance from the Ohio. Lest my former letter should miscarry I now send you a List of all our Lands with the Locations, that Caveats may be entered for the Reason w^ch you are acquainted w^th in order to try the legality of the Claims. I sent Directions to the attorney by a former Opportunity ^to take this step but the Letter may miscarry, you therefore will, no doubt, im-mediately apply to him. It appears to me that the surveyor cannot receive an Entry for Land before located [page damaged- with?] him, without the Consent of the prior Claimant, and as I have a Prospect of locating our other Treasury warrants to great advantage, I incline at present to prefer the former mea-sure; especially as warrants hereafter to be purchased will be worth less than those I now have: But this is a matter of so much consequence that I cannot determine how I shall act on the first Day of May. There is no such Thing as Friendship existing in this Part of the world; nor is there one Person to be trusted, unless he is immediately ^connected with the other in Interest; that being so powerful as to reconcile the honest man to the villain, and serve as a Cement to their Friendship: You would be surprised to see with what a Jealous Eye we view one another, every Man looking upon his neighbour as his Enemy & endeavouring to counteract his Designs and even amongst those between whom an intimate Friendship heretofore subsisted, there is the greatest Jealousy. - There is in this Part of the world the greatest scarcity of Provisions, but at the Falls ^about 70 m. off such Quantities have come down, the Prices are lower than I presume they are with you: Corn plenty at 40 Dollars p^r bushel, flour at [pound symbol]80 p b^l salt [pound symbol]100 p^r Bushel ^whiskey at [pound symbol]30 p^r Gallⁿ Horses here are not half as high as with you, but cattles from the great Distruction amongst them last winter are very scarce & of course very dear. M^r And^w Beall has delivered me your Instructions respecting the giving him a Credit, but I find he will interfere with us in our Purchases of the Escheated Lands: I therefore wish for your Directions upon that Head. He seems

very intent upon purchasing a 400 Acre Lott of Connolly's Land at the Falls, w^ch I do not incline to let him have; for upon our former Plan, I mean to purchase the whole three thousand Acres. Our warrants ^sent by M^r Overton of course the Escheator's Commission did not come out Time enough for any Thing to be done in this matter before I got out; and my Brother George being out looking for Land when they came, I found the Packet unopened: He will qualify the 2^nd of May next and at a convenient Time will proceed upon the Business of his Office. Lands about the Falls are likely to be immensily valuable, and I wish to be em-powered to secure some thousands of Acres there at any Price; they would be worth 20/. p^r Acre at least of space, and may now be purchased at one fourth Part of the value thereof, or at any Rate the most vauable of such Land could be got for Half that Sum. Southall & Charlton have divided their Land I am informed, if so, by a Line to run from the River back through the survey, if so, the upper Part will be one third Part more valuable than the lower. I have sent you a sketch of the River at the Fall ^& ab^t 80 miles up with the several Tracts of Land lying on the River, which appear to me to be the most desirable purchases, & by w^ch you may be properly informed, before you you make any Bargain; and whatever you do in this matter let it be done soon.- I have seen a Man from N. Orleans who informs me the Spaniards were in Possession of all the lower Parts of theMississippi & that they only required of the Inhabitants to take an Oath of Fidelity of the United States of America, or of neutra -lity during the present war; & in that case did not molest them or meddle with their Property.- The Carolina Line contrary to the Expectation of most People, runs near Cumberland River leaving it

almost the whole of the good Land on that River w^ch was reserved for the Officers & soldiers, in No. Carolina. There were formerly a number of settlements made in that Country w^ch I imagine might now be got for very little, as there is no money yet amongst the Inhabitants; I therefore intend to visit them when I go down the Ohio to superintend the surveying of our Land in that Quarter; and if I find any thing clever can be done there, my having a credit [in?] N. Orleans to a small amount, might enabe me to secure a Quantity of Land as good as the Land here, five hundred miles more convenient to navigation, convenient to the Missippi about the Mouth; and excedingly well watered; which is not the case in many Places: The spirit of Emigration rages very high at present, and as there is a Plan settled for establishing a Post still lower down the River, the old settlers will probly sell very Cheap, and there appers to be no danger of any competition, nor of the Carolina Assembly's conforming the Titles of such settles or their Ass^ees- so difficult is it to locate Land here that as soon as soon as any Tract is located it, will commnd four or five Pounds per Acre ^on Credit and I am convinced, that such Land as may now be pur-chased for less than two Pounds, on Credit, will sell for three or four Times that sum before we should be obliged to pay for it; you inform me there is a Pro-bability of Depeciation's continuing, if so the more Pur-chases I can make on Credit, of good land, the better, as by those we cannot lose; indeed it is the Opinion of some good Judges here that about the Falls, land is now as cheap as it would be, were our money to become equal to specie. Col. Peachey's & Col. Byrds lands are all very valuable, as are two surveys surveys for Cap^t John Ware on Bear Grass Creek near the Falls, Henry Harrison's on the same Creek for one

(2 one thousand Acres, Alex^r Spotswood Dandridge's of 1000 Acres on the same creek, Hugh Mercer's, Zach^y Taylor's, James Taylor's, Hancock Eustace's, John Lawson's William Southerland|W^m Southerland]]'s Edm^d Taylor's, John Tenants, John Ashby's, & Tho^s [Bouyers? Rangers?] w^ch lie at or near the Falls or on the Ohio not far above. M^r Everard could inform you where most of these Men live or if not some Person attending the assembly pro-bably can. Col Smith is acquainted with most of them

May the 6^th The Confusion about Entries is at length over and no Disturbances have happened, but so much Time is required to prepare for making Entries after balloting the surveyor is only now beginning to receive them; our lott is about Half way and I hope to be able to locate to advantage not near all the first Days warrants being offered; I am sorry you made such contract with M^r Mercer, as his warrants come so late that they were very little better than state warrants and the Deduction made for the Expenses of locating &c not ^being nearly equal to what it will cost, The great number of Pre Emptions dispersed through every Part of this Country, render it so difficult to locate, that I shall be under the necessity of giving more than that sum for assistance; I therefore should think that M^r Mercer shouldought to deduct the Expenses I am at exclusive of my own Trouble from the stock, and divide the Remainder with us; but if he will not do so, I then would propose that he should pay for locating his land and dissolve the Contract; I woul rather give up my own Trouble in that case, than that the contract should stand I would not be understood, to imply the least Censure or Blame, on you respecting this Matter; it was impossible you could know the Difficulties I meet with here, and without that knowledge, the Bargain ^would appear to be a good one: I am perfectly satisfied you did what appeared to be right, and I shall endeavour to make the best of it. You have