AMERICAN GEOLOGY DECADE OF 1830-1839. 361 



the other at Grand River, a few miles west of Grand Rapids. Both 

 wells, it may be stated, have proved failures, owing to the weakness 

 of the brine. 



The third annual report, of 11 1 pages, contained a description of the 

 topography and geology of the portion of the Upper Peninsula bor- 

 dering on Lakes Michigan and Huron, together with notices of the coal, 

 iron, stone, and hog ores of the southern peninsula. The rocks of 

 the Upper Peninsula were classified as primary and sedimentary, the 

 latter being subdivided into a lower lime rock and shales and upper 

 lime rocks. 



The fourth annual report, 1841, was given up largely to articles by 

 Doctor Houghton on the topography, geology, and mineralogy of the 

 country bordering Lake Superior. This contained also a description 

 of the mineral veins of the trap and conglomerate. Although not so 

 stated here, it may be well to remark that Houghton regarded the 

 copper-bearing veins of the Lake Superior region as fissure veins 

 tilled from below by the metal in a state of vapor or of compounds 

 having their origin from copper in the native form. 



The fifth annual report was limited to but six pages, owing to the 

 fact that the appropriations by the legislature were curtailed, the 

 country suffering under pressure of a financial crisis. Houghton was 

 not, however, content to drop the work, and in 1844, in connection 

 with W. A. Burt, devised a plan for connecting the linear surveys of 

 the public lands of the United States with the geological and mineral- 

 ogical survey of the country. This plan was fully set forth in a paper 

 prepared and read by him before the Association of American Geolo- 

 gists at Washington in that } r ear. LTnder the recommendation of the 

 General Land Office Congress appropriated funds for the purpose, and 

 Doctor Houghton was appointed to undertake the work. According 

 to the plan thus agreed upon Mr. Burt was to take charge of running 

 the township lines of the Upper Peninsula, the subdivisions to he made 

 by deputy surveyors, and Doctor Houghton was to have the director- 

 ship of the entire work. The rocks crossed by lines were to be exam- 

 ined, and observations made as to the general geological and topo- 

 graphical features of the country. The system had been fairly organ- 

 ized and the field work of one season nearly completed when, on the 

 13th of October, 1845, Doctor Houghton met his death by drowning 

 during a snowstorm, while making his way in an open sailboat along 

 the west shore of Lake Superior. 



Houghton graduated in 1828 at what was then America's chief train- 

 ing school for geologists, the Rensselaer Polytechnic 

 sketch of Houghton, institute, and was almost immediately appointed assist- 

 ant to Professor Eaton. In 1830, having but just 

 attained his majority, he delivered a course of lectures at Detroit on 

 chemistry, botany, and geology, an example no man of several times his 



