164 BULLETIN 109, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



face. In the light of present knowledge the geological conditions 

 of these failures are perfectly intelligible. 



It may be added that the State now took tlie requisite steps to 

 bring the salt spring lands into market on the same terms as ordi- 

 nary lands. Twentj'^-five sections were assigned March 28, 1849, for 

 an endowment of the normal school at the minimum price of $4 

 an acre for the unimproved tracts, and 22 sections were set apart 

 February 12, 1855, for the endowment of an agricultural college. 



As an individual enterprise another well was begun in January. 

 1840, by Lucius hjon near Bridge Street bridge in the present city 

 of Grand Rapids and by July, 1841, it had penetrated to the depth 

 of GGl feet. It furnished a flow of one hogshead a minute of brackish 

 water, which, when isolated from the influx of fresh water, was 

 found one-fifth saturated, "or at least equal in strength to brino at 

 that time used on the Kanawlia and Ohio Eivers." With salt selling 

 at $3 a barrel, Mr. Lyon was enabled to manufacture a limited 

 amount without loss. The want of brine of adequate strength, how- 

 ever, led to an earlj^^ suspension of the business. Thus ended the 

 first period of salt enterprise in Michigan. 



Recurring now to the results of geological field work in 1838, 

 the second year of the survey, we look into the report of the State 

 geologist, dated February 4, 1839. We find that Doctor Houghton's 

 personal labors were restricted " to an examination of the coast of 

 those portions of our State bordering on Lakes Huron and Michigan," 

 with some limited portions of the interior and the southern counties. 

 In a sketch of the topography of the northen part of the Peninsula 

 he refers to a range of hills a little south of Thunder Bay River 

 which " stretch in a southwesterly direction toward the head of Lake 

 Michigan. This range at its commencement," he continues, " is 

 usually known as the highlands of the x\u Sable. These hills follow 

 the line of bearing of the rock formation, and no doubt, extend 

 diagonally across the State, forming a portion of the summit of 

 the more northern part of the Peninsula " (pp. 6, 7). This citation 

 from one of Doctor Houghton's earliest records reveals a preposes- 

 sion which gave bent to all his subsequent reasoning, and landed 

 him in erroneous scientific conclusions. " The ridges of lime rock " 

 in the vicinity of Little and Grand Traverse Bays " are, without 

 doubt, a continuation of the line of bearing of the great limestone 

 formation of Wisconsin." So early as this, the ameliorating in- 

 fluence exerted on the climate was distinctly noted. The Indians on 

 Little Traverse Bay, he reports, cultivate somewhat extensive fields 

 of corn, and no failure had occurred within their recollection. " In 

 this respect," he adds. " the country on the western slope is precisely 



