Envisaging the West: Thomas Jefferson and the Roots of Lewis and Clark

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An act for opening a road through the frontiers of this colony to Fort Pitt on the Ohio.

Title:
An act for opening a road through the frontiers of this colony to Fort Pitt on the Ohio.
Source:
Hening, William Waller, ed. The Statutes at Large, Being a Collection of All the Laws of Virginia, 1820.
Overview:
For improving commerce with the Indians of the Ohio valley and to facilitate supplying British garrisons along the frontier, the General Assembly authorized Thomas Walker and other gentlemen to "lay out" and "direct" the clearing of a road from the north branch of the Potomac River to Fort Pitt. The act mandated that the road run near Braddock Road.

NOVEMBER 17, 1766

I. WHEREAS it is represented to this present general assembly, that by opening a road from the frontiers of this colony to Fort Pitt Maps: on the Ohio Maps: , a very advantageous trade might be carried on with the Indians in alliance with the British crown on the western frontiers of this dominion, and the king's garrisons be better supplied with provisions; Be it therefore enacted by the Lieutenant-Governor, Council and Burgesses of this present General Assembly, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That Thomas Walker, Thomas Rutherford, James Wood, and Abraham Kite, gentlemen, or any two of them, are hereby appointed, authorized and impowered, to view, lay out, and direct, a road to be cleared from the north branch of Potowmack river Maps: to Fort Pitt Maps: on the Ohio Maps: , by or near the road called Braddock's road, in the most direct and cheapest manner the said commissioners shall think fit.

II. And be it further enacted by the authority Aforsaid, That the treasurer of this colony for the time being is hereby authorized and required to pay to the said commissioners a sum of money not exceeding two hundred pound, in the whole, in such proportions, and at such times, as the said commissioners shall require, to be applied by them towards clearing a road as aforesaid, and the said commissioners shall account for the work to the next general assembly.