THE OCCUPATION OF THE LAND 131 



mately adhered to. At a few places in Michigan, 

 where grants by the French and British governments 

 had been made previous to the American occupation 

 of the land, the system just described was not em- 

 ployed. 



In connection with the linear survey, notes were 

 taken of the main physical features of the land 

 surface: the timber, soil, moisture, streams, lakes 

 and swamps; and special pains were taken in the 

 Upper Peninsula to ascertain the rock and mineral 

 formations, specimens being sent to Washington with 

 their accompanying field notes, as indicative of the 

 mineral resources of the region. It was while en- 

 gaged on this combined linear and geological survey 

 that Douglass Houghton lost his life in Lake Superior 

 in the autumn of 1845, and it was a party of his 

 surveyors that discovered the presence of iron ore 

 near Negaunee in 1844. In some instances, through 

 carelessness or fraud, grossly inaccurate surveys were 

 perpetrated, necessitating the repetition of the work. 



The life of a United States surveyor in the pioneer 

 period was hard and laborious and not devoid of 

 unpleasant, even dangerous, features. The deputy 

 surveyor was accompanied by chainmen and axmen 

 to assist him in his work. Life was in the open, 

 exposed to storms and mosquitoes and flies. Camp 

 equipage, provisions and instruments must be packed 

 to the place where they were required. Food must 

 be prepared as best it could. Beds were made od 

 spruce and balsam boughs, with boots perhaps for 

 pillows. There was no "eight hour day." Notes, 



