Phelps and Gorham Purchase

The Phelps and Gorham Purchase was the purchase in 1788 of the pre-emptive right to some 6,000,000 acres (24,000 km²) of land in western New York State for $1,000,000 (roughly equivalent to $20,000,000,000 in 2005). This was all land in western New York west of Seneca Lake between Lake Ontario and the Pennsylvania border. The purchasers were Oliver Phelps and Nathaniel Gorham, both of Massachusetts, and the seller was the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. (In some discussions of this subject elsewhere, the Phelps and Gorham Purchase refers to all 6,000,000 acres (24,000 km²) and in others it refers only to the 2,250,000 acres (9,100 km²) upon which Phelps and Gorham managed to extinguish Indian title. This comes about because although Phelps and Gorham purchased pre-emptive rights to all 6,000,000 acres (24,000 km²), they were only able to extinguish Indian rights -- and obtain clear title -- to the portion east of the Genesee River.)

External links

• Phelps & Gorham Treaty of July 4-8, l788, Historical Aspects of the, Rochester History magazine, by Blake McKelvey Vol 1 No(s)1 (January 1939) (PDF format)