As It Were: Wolves numbered among the creatures that once prowled central Ohio Ed Lentz When visitors from the newly formed United States first arrived in what is now central Ohio, Ohio did not yet exist as a state. The area north and west of the Ohio River had been ceded to the revolutionary new country by Great Britain as the Northwest Territory. Divided into various land grants, the new land began to be settled. The first permanent settlement at Marietta in 1788 soon was followed by others along the Ohio River and into the river valleys nearby. Meeting and soon opposing the newcomers were the Native American residents of the Ohio Country whose opinion about displacement had not been asked.