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UPPER  PENINSULA 
PIONEERS 
from 
Michigan  Pioneer 
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Volumes  1 - 40
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IRON  MOUNTAINJ  MICHIGAN 
1974
CONTENTS 
11DR.  DOUGLASS  HOUGHTON"  BY  ROLLAND  C.  ALLEN.  VoLUHE 
39,  1915.  PAGES  1  - 8. 
·~TORY or  THE  DROWN ING  or  DR .  DOUGLASS  HOUGHTON  AND 
or 
SKETCH  PETER  McFARLAND,  THE  LAST  SURVIVOR  Or 
THE  EXPEDITION-"  BY  GEORGE  JOHNSTON.  VOLUME  22, 
1893.  PAGES  9  - 13. 
"REMINISCENCES  BY  GEORGE  JOHNSTON,  Of  SAULT  DE  STE 
MARIE,  1815.11  VOLUME  32,  1902.  PACES  15  - 21. 
c. 
"THE  HISTORIC  JOHNSTON  FAMI LY  Of  THE  Soo"  BY  H. 
CHAPMAN .  VOLUME  12,  1887.  PAGES  23  - 72. 
"MEHORtES  or  THE  Soo  (EowARO  OHSHAwAwo}"  ev  MRS.  THOHAS 
0,  GILBERT.  VOLUME  30,  1905,  PAGES  73  - 83. 
"A  SKETCH  of.- JoHN  SENTER  or HouGHTOH.11  VoLVHE  30, 
1905.  PACES  85 - 91, 
"THE  STORY  or  J OHN  TANNER"  BY  MRs .  ANC:tE  81HGHAM 
GtLBERT.  VoLUHE  38,  1912.  PAGES  93  - 98. 
"PETER  WHITE  AS  MAN  AND  AS  C1TIZEN  183()-190811  BY  HoN. 
LEVI  l. BARBOUR.  VOLUME  37,  1909-1q10.  PAGES 
99  - 118. 
'~HE F1RST  MAH  or MARQUETTE;  S~ETCHES or  HoN.  PETER 
WHITE';11  VOLUME  30,  1905.  PAGES  119  - 140.
DR.' DOUGLASS HOUGHTON 
BY  ROLLAND  c. ALLEN.* 
I N the year 1830 Michigaii lay on _the very frontier of settlement 
in the old Northwest 'l'crritory.  Detroit was little more than 
an army post although it was rapidly liecoming an important 
settlement through wbicl1  was passing a  tide of sturdy people to 
the  oak openings  and  prairies  of  the  southern  counties.  There 
were  less than  20,000  persons of European  descent  iu  the entire 
territory embraced  within the present borders of the State.  Be· 
yond  Detroit stretched to  the  north  and  west  a  1ast and silent 
wilderness,  broken  only here and  there on  the coast by  isolated 
groups of traders' and trappers' buts and stockades, through which 
communications were maintained with the Indian's of the interior. 
The coast v..·  as only roughly charted, the land unsurveye<l, and little 
was knoWn  of the character of the vast inlands of the two penin 
sulas, excepting only the southern counties which  Jay  in  the path 
of travel to the more remote and unsettled i"-egions south and west 
of the end of Lake Michigan. 
Such, in brief, was the state of the Territory on  the arrival in 
Detroit, in the winter of 1830, of Douglass Boughton, then a youth 
•Rolland  Craten  Allen,  B.  A.,  M.  A.  (University or  Wisconsin,  1006-1908),  was 
born May 24th, 1881, at  Richmond, Indiana.  He moved with bl~ parents  to Kansas 
In 1883 and thence to Wisconsin In 1891, securing his earlier education In  the com· 
mon  schools  or  Kansas City  nnd  Richland  county,  Wisconsin.  Having acquired a 
<'ommon  school education  he h~t'nmc n  countr~· school  mnster  nt the  R!!P  of  sixteen 
and  arter  hnvlng  mastered  the  mnln  subjects  In  the  high  11cbool  curriculum,  un 
tutored,  he enterP.d  the University ot Wisconsin nt the nge ot nineteen tor the pur 
pose ot preparing himself tor thl!  profession of luw.  There,  however,  he  fell unde1· 
the  lnduence  ot  Dr.  Charles  ntchnrd  Van  Hise,  now  president  of  the  university 
but nt thnt tlme professor ot geology,  nnd under him began the study or geology ns 
11  profession.  After three years ot  college trnlolng, during which time he supported 
himself  ne  n  pbotogrnpber,  muslclnn  and  through  otber  labors or n  mlscellnneous 
cbnrncter't be accepted nn lnstruct.or1tl11p  ln the high school of Plymouth, Wisconsin. 
In the fa I or 1904, after a summer ijpcnt In geological work in the wllcla or northern 
Ontario,  he  reentered  the  university,  graduating wltb  the  class  or  1005.  lo  his 
senior year he  led tor Wisconsin  the annual Intercollegiate debllte  with  tbe Univer 
sity ot Michigan and won  the science meclnl  tor  success In sclentltlc research.  Dur 
ing the summer or  1905 Mr.  Allen was  employed  ns geologist In  Colorado by tbe 
United States Geological Survey, accepted  a  position as Instructor In  Ille  Unl.-erslty 
ot Wisconsin  In  the fall,  resli;:ntng In March,  190.7,  to engage In  s:eoloi;lc  work or 
a  coinmerclnl  nature  in  Canada,  Minnesota  and  Michigan.  Declining  tile otfer of 
nn  nppolntment  ns  mining  geologist  under  tbe  United  States  government  In  the 
Pblllpplne  Ialnnds he returned  nt the  end or  1907  to the University  ot  Wisconsin 
tor post gradunte studies.  In l!l08-1009 Mr.  Allen wns Instructor In  geology In the 
University  or Michigan,  and  from  this position  was appointed  State Geologist  and 
Director  or  tbc  Mlcblgs.n  Geological  nnd  Biologlcnl  Survey  in  August,  1909,  con 
tinuing. however, bis connection with tbe unl'<'erslty ns a special  lecturer In  geolos:y 
until  1912,  since  which  time  his wbole energy hos been  absorbed by  his  duties ns 
Director o! tbe Geological  Sun-cy.  :.tr. All~~ Is n  Fellow or  the Geolo~cal Society 
or America ·and a  member of the Lnkc Superior :\lining Institute,  Mlchlgnu Aradenw 
ot  Science  nod  Michignn  Eni:;lnccrlog  Socictr  nnd  the  fraternities  or  Sliimo  Xi 
(sclentl6c), Alphn Cbl Sigma  (chcmlcnl), und I,nnslni:; Loclge No.  ll:l, F'.  & A: M.  Jn 
1910· be wus united in mnrrlnge to Mnrthn Hill of ll111dlson,  Indl1.1n11.  ·
of twenty-one ·"·ho  was  destineu  to acquire  and  sustain  a  dis 
tinguiRhecl leaderuhip, Jh'ilt in the intellectual ond profes1:1ion~l li,fe 
of  Detroit, and· Jater,  as  State (Yeologist, in ·the development of . 
the  mnt~nl resources  of the young State nnd. the inception  of 
instru~ion in~the natural seienccs  in  tlle Univ.ersity.  The occn· 
sion of  his coming, .g.per the· lapi;e of thrcc·qnnrters_o f n century, 
secmi; prophetic of tue profound impress he was destined to leave 
on  the State of hi& adopUon.  He came. fo  Michigan,  not as an 
emigrant f.-eeking n new home in the west but, through tbc influence 
of .i_utclligent people in  Detroit who  hnu p1·ececled  him, to fill  n. 
ueed  for  n leader in scientific  thought in  the growing Territory. 
Although Detroit nt this time· was a viJlnge of dri·ly 4,000  souls it 
<'Omprii;'ed an unusually 'iritelligent populntion am·ong whom  w_ere 
for 
n. number of men distinguished not less  their'intellcctual than 
tor:  their  more  mnterial  nccomplishments.  Amo'ng  these  were 
Oenernl Lewis Cnss, Governor of the Territory; Stephens T. Mason, 
who becitrile the first Governor of the State; Lucl~s r~yon, senator 
und  later  Surveyot·  General  01'  th~ United  Stntes:;  J\Injor  Henry 
Whiting; Dr. Zina Pitcher, nn  eminent physician -.n..nd  a regent of 
the University.  .  i ,, 
Iµ 1830 'the friends of science in Detroit united i'n an application 
to  Dr.  A1nos  Enton;  President  of  the  Rcnnesalher  Polytechnic 
Im1titute bf~ Troy, New York; to recommend a  per~on qualified to 
llelive1· n course 01' public l_ectures on chemistry,· geology, mineral_ogy: 
nud natural philosophy.  The  reqnest was  delivered in p~rson by 
I.ucins Lyon. and resulted in the ·selection of  Donglnss Houghton, 
who_w  ne  then  act~ug as nu assistant to Dr. Ento~, .the. ~oremost 
geologist ot the country.  The immediate populariti_ attained by. 
. Houghtou~e lectures in Detroit wne cred.itable not only· to the young 
ecientiat .b'!lt  also to his  hearers,  who .forsook  in 0. .measure the 
gniet.r ot' n.""mmtary post to engage more sedoyely 'in a  study of 
natural science under the leadership of n yontll who by mauy 'vas 
at first deemed bette.r_f itted to receive rather than to im'parf instruc: 
tion.  Young  Houghton,  however,  nt  once  gave  evidence  of  re· 
p1arknhle scientific attainments which, combined wit11:!bis dominat· 
ing but lovable pc1·sonnlity, soon w:on  all hearers.  In thus early 
gaining the reSpcct, ndmlration,  and  high  regard  o~ the· people 
of Detroit  he.hid ·_the foun.dation which in later·yeor~_; brondened 
to include the  people  of the  entire State,  supported• ·hin\ in  the 
organizntion of the Geological  Survey nnd  the prodigious  labor& 
whicJt  be  discharged  in  the exploration  of the trackless. forests 
ot the north.  ·  ' 
.- -----·- _.m.. i831 Houghton was admitted to· the practice of medicine and 
..  ..
3 
soon  thereafter  receivetl  nn  appointment  from  General  Cass  ns 
ppysician and botanist fo the Henry lit. Sd1oolcrnft expedition  to 
uc 
the sources of the Mississippi  rh·cr.  It mny  conceived that his 
experience  irntlcr  Schoolcrnfl  not  only  i;crvrtl  to  slimulate  his 
nntural love for adventurous exploration, bnt alRo instructed him in 
those methods o(travel and susfen:rnce in the wildemess of which he 
made such effective use <luring the progress of the Geological Survey. 
From 1832 to 1837 Dr. IIoughton wns cngng-ed in the profession· 
of medicine in Detroit. . Bis practice was large and remunerative, 
and he further added to his iucome  by  profitable investmeuts in 
real  estate.  In 1837  his  private fortnnc  was  such  that he  was 
enabled  to  acce·pt  the  appointment  of  State  Geologist  from  the 
hands of his friend Stephens T. Mason, the Governor of the uewly 
organi;i;ed  state.  It would be dcRirabk 10  pause here fo1·  n  time 
to consider this interesting- period in the Jifo of Dr. Ilonghton, and 
particularly his relation  to the ci ,·ic  nnd  in1ellectua I nclivitics of 
Detroit; but since we arc concerned in this paper more largely with 
the remarkable labors of Dr. IIoughtoh, the State Geologist, suffice 
it to say that by 1837 ho hnd become the leading scientist and phy· 
sicinn, as well as one of the most prominent nod respected citizens 
of Michigan.  ' 
It seems clear from the records of the times tllnt nr. Boughton· 
is  not only responsible for tlle  conception  and plans of th~ first 
geological survey, but it was tlle persuasive force of his personality 
that induced the first Legislature to commit the people of the young 
State to a work which doubtlei;s  promised to many little practical 
compensation in return for tlle burden of its support.  This early 
personal  triumph. ·or. the young scientist is the more  remarkable 
when. it is considered that the science of geology had ns yet made 
little progress in America nnd  was 'not then ns  it is now a. com 
mon  branch of instruction  in  schools and  colleges.  In  fact  ita 
claims were received 'vith donbt .from the standpoint of the prnc· 
tical  bearings  of its tenets,  nnd  ncauemicinm1  ucnicd  tbe subject 
that favor which todny is so freely  accorded to nll of the natural 
sciences:  That the people of Michigan were thus early willing to 
iippropriate money for a  scientific survey of the State is no less 
en evidence of their courageous intelligence than a  tribute to the 
rema~kable influence of the personality of Dr. Boughton. 
lii the organization of the Snrvey Dr. Houghton found little of in· 
struction or guidance in the experience of the older States. Although 
the first sta.te surveys of Mas!"-0.clmsetts  (1830), Tennessee  (1831), 
Maryland (1834), New Jersey, Connecticut, Virginia (1835), Maine,
New York, Ouio, an<l Penns~·lvauia (183G), prccc1kd thoi;c in :'ilichi 
~nn 11.'  from one  to seven yenrs  lhcii- resull's we1·e  ouly  n1c;1gcrly 
:n·ailablc  and  were  of  liltlc vnluc  to  Dl'.  Uo11ghlon  in  plauning 
fo1· the \'nRl- lnbors which opene<l before 11im  in lite wilds of i\lichi 
~nu.  It is an interesting fnct, ns well ns an cvi1le11ce of Jioni;hton's 
i.ccuiui;, that ns cal•ly as 1838 ('lie Survey hrnl been oq;uni7.c<l on tile 
plan thal in lhe main ~sentinls is Collowccl to .this <lny in Michi:;an, 
anil  whic~h i8 approYe<1  liy years of cxpcricuce in other 8latC8 :lH 
well.  'l'hi:-;  plan  provi1le<l  for ~eologic.al, lopo~1·nphic:ll! wologicnl. 
uncl  bcil :w ica I <lcparlmc11 ts, 1•nch hea1lrtl by a  compcf·cnt i::pecialist, 
l111t nil 1mcler the cxcculin? hcnd of the 8111·,·c.r, the State Geologist. 
The 1lcpnrtmm1t!l of bot:my 111111  ?.oology <.lid not 1;11\'\'h·c  the i;ecotHl 
.n•nr of their or~:111ir.a1ion,  on  account of 1.h~  sfraighteucd coo<li-
or 
1i on  lho Survr.y's  finances,  ll  C:lllf>C  which  also  TH"C\'Clltcd  the. 
pnblir.n I ion of mo~t of the conn ty mnp~ which  h:Hl  been  prepared 
l1y  t11e Statn ·.ropo~rnpl1('r.  Jn fact, it 8ecms 1hnt the fnn<ls whfrh 
lh~ Rtrn~gling yonng Rtnle wns  nlilc io tlcvote  to  the Survey, so 
ahl~- plnnnc1l were pilifully iuadeqnatc for iL~ exccuti,m, and the 
1 
history of Michiga!l  prcsenti:; uo  nobler example  than that of Dr. 
llouA'hton,  who8e  devotion  mul  enthusiasm  surmounted  in  such 
llH\rked degree  the <liflicultics ·thus imposc<l  upon  bim, :ui well  ai; 
ull11~rs  or an  equally  forinidnllle  nature  to  which  we  shall  110w 
11 llmlc. 
Tim  11111·1mii'  of  the  sci~nr.r.  of  geolol!.V  i11  A111e1·it•n.  hn<l  not 
1·i~eu to  the  <lil!n i ty of n. pi:·ofession,  and  the ina t tcr of secui·ing 
competent  asf.!iatnnt·i:;  was  a  source  of  in11ncdi:1te  <'OD<:ern  to  the 
Slate Geologist.  1t sc1·ms that  there were in 1>elroit at thnt time a 
1111111ll<'r of _ro1111g men of 111:11·k1·tl a bi lily. who, forl 1111a lc.ly. 1h rough 
)lC\'Sonnl contact with Dr. Ilou~htou hail ac11ufred some or his anlor 
:11111 cutlm:si:um\  for  lhe sciences  :m<l  who  bcca111e  in  I i111c.  11111lcr 
l1if'  tenching and inllucncc, fllted for the work of nssistnuts to  the 
c. 
~fain 4lt~oloi;iRL  or lhet5c Bela  liubbartl  and  0. Douglas rcn 
clcl't~ll  1•1licicnt  i;~rvirn  fr(lm  lhc l>egi11ni11:;  of  the  Sm"\·ey  to  1 he 
tlc11lh ur Hr. lloughlon in 1S4r;. 
To those whose  lnbora  hnve  never lctl  across  tltc  wilds of the 
11ol'tl11.~·1·11 forests a  mere recital of the dangers :uul tlifficnltics which 
1nc11a1·Nl  the p1·n:;1·cf:R of the survey ns well us 01c physical an<l mental 
C'onslil11li1111  of ib' 11urn1IX!t'S  111u1>l  fail  to produce a  full  apprecia 
tion of Ilic pro<ligious 1Jurde11  cmlJl'ace1l hy tlte you11g gcolo(.!ist an<l 
hii- tlcrnt~cl m;si:;iantR.  In  allusion  lo  the  nr<luow;  chnr:\cter  of 
his  lal111r.s  in  1842,  Houghton says,  "wauin~ !he streams  by  <lay, 
:11111oye1l  by 111os1J11ito11 nt night. scpnrate<l fol· weeks together from 
·ult  i-odl!l'y,  were  it 11ot  lhat  the  mind  i.ll  conat.antly occupied by