Donf/Iass I[ou(/hton. — A. WhicfieU. 133 
fore ulready in advance of tlie average character of tlie west, or 
even of western towns. Those too, were days in wliich tlie 
leveling spirit of deniocracy had not destroyed the rightful 
influence of superior intelligence. The Legislature assembled 
at Detroit was predisposed to listen to the judgments of such 
men as Gen. Cass, Dr. Zina Pitcher, Henry N. Walker, Maj. 
Henry Whiting, Charles C. Trowbridge, Stevens T. Mason and 
Dr. Douglass Houghton. Still, nothing less than the tact, 
urbanity and captivating humor which distinguished Dr. 
Houghton, could even at that time, have secured an appropria- 
tion of $20,000 to be expended during a period of four years.' 
The financial crash which fell upon the country in 1838, was 
peculiarly distressing in Michigan, in consequence of the lav- 
ish scale of general internal improvements which the infant 
State adopted, and most of which were paralyzed during the 
years which followed. To sustain the heart of the State in a 
geological enterprise of such considerable magnitude was a 
greater achievement than to secure its original assent. 
To the geological reader the sketch of the next nine years of 
Houghton's activity embraces the culminating interest of his 
biography. It seems appropriate, however, to reduce to a 
minimum the exposition of the scientific results of his labors, 
and to restrict the present notice to a history of the man and 
his personal relations. 
Under provisions of the act passed in the beginning of 1837 
Dr. Houghton occupied most of the season in investigations 
relating to the "salt lands" of the State, donated by Congress 
in 1836. :Many salt springs had long been known. Houghton, 
from surface indications and general principles, argued that 
the source of supply was a deep-seated formation which might 
be reached by boring or by sinking of shafts in the vicinity of 
the salines. Accordingly, the Legislature of 1838 appropriated 
'The total expended by the State for the survey during the four years, 
was if31,55>7. In 1S41 the State made anotlier appropriation of$(»,21!(; 
in 1842, one of $:i,70:i : in 184.3, one of :«2,02tt : in 1844, one of :?2,.535 ; in 
184.1, one of !jl,8:>2; niakinu' total api>roi>riationa for the Iloujrliton hur- 
vey, |"i2,000. But of thi.H !f4,l71 remained unoxpende<l. The present 
writer in .Tune, 18S(>, by request, transmitted to Director .1. W. Powell, 
for the use of the I'niteil States Geolopical Survey, a pretty fidl "His- 
tory of the First <ieolo<;ieal Survey of the State of Miehi^an," embrac- 
ing memoirs of Dr. Houghton and others. It may here be added, that 
in November of the same year, he transmitted also a i)a]n'r on "Public 
Geolov'ioal Surveys in Michigan under the Direction of Professor Alex- 
ander Winchell."' 
