Robert Morris has founded several canal companies,…
1791 CE
He has the first iron rolling mill in America.
His icehouse is the model for one Washington installs at Mount Vernon.
Morris is already one of the most important land speculators in the Northeast.
He purchases the western portion of the Phelps and Gorham Purchase—an area of western New York consisting of about 3,750,000 acres (15,200 square kilometers)—in March 1791 for $366,333.33.
The land is conveyed to Morris in five deeds on May 11, 1791.
Morris quickly sells one million acres (four thousand square kilometers) of the reserve to The Pulteney Association in March 1791 for £75,000 (for a profit of $216,128). (This tract becomes known as the "Pulteney Tract".)
Morris does keep five hundred thousand acres (two thousand square kilometers) for himself, and that land will become known as The Morris Reserve.