The places where the plates were buried are marked on a map preserved in the Marine at Paris, made by Père Bonnecamps, who accompanied Céloron. It shows eight points where observations for latitude were taken, and extends the Alleghany River up to Lake Chautauqua. It is called Carte d’un voyage, fait dans la belle rivière en la Nouvelle France, 1749, par le reverend Père Bonnecamps, Jesuite mathématicien. There is a copy in the Kohl Collection, in the Department of State at Washington.
Kohl identifies the places of burial as follows: Kananouangon (Warren, Pa.); Rivière aux bœufs (Franklin, Pa.); R. Ranonouara (near Wheeling); R. Yenariguékonnan (Marietta); R. Chinodaichta (Pt. Pleasant, W. Va.); R. à la Roche (mouth of Great Miami River).
There are two portages marked on the map: one from Lake Chautauqua to Lake Erie, and the other from La Demoiselle on the R. à la Roche to Fort des Miamis on the R. des Miamis, flowing into Lake Erie.
In the annexed sketch of the map, the rude marks of the fleur-de-lis show “les endroits ou l’on enterré des lames de plomb;” the double daggers “les latitudes observées;” and the houses “les villages.”
The map has been engraved in J. H. Newton’s Hist. of the Pan Handle, West Virginia (Wheeling, 1879), p. 37, with a large representation of a plate found at the mouth of Wheeling Creek (p. 40).
Spotswood in 1716 had taken similar measures to mark the Valley of Virginia for the English king. John Fontaine, who accompanied him, says in his journal: “The governor had graving irons, but could not grave anything, the stones were so hard. The governor buried a bottle with a paper enclosed, on which he writ that he took possession of this place, and in the name of and for King George the First of England.” Maury’s Huguenot Family, p. 288.
[1247] The home government ordered Virginia to make this grant to the Ohio Company. In 1749, 800,000 acres were granted to the Loyal Company. In 1751 the Green Briar Company received 100,000 acres. Up to 1757, Virginia had granted 3,000,000 acres west of the mountains.
[1248] Dinwiddie Papers, i. 272. The American Revolution ended the company’s existence. See ante, p. 10; also Rupp’s Early Hist. Western Penna., p. 3; Lowdermilk’s Cumberland, p. 26; Sparks’s Washington, ii., app.; Sparks’s Franklin, iv. 336.
[1249] This treaty was made June 13, 1752. The position of Logstown is in doubt. Cf. Dinwiddie Papers, i. p. 6. It appears on the map in Bouquet’s Expedition, London, 1766. Cf. De Hass’s West. Virginia, 70.
[1250] Ante, p. 10.