Hometown of Hunter Thompson Lockwood

A Lake, A Village, A Community

Houghton Lake is the name for an unincorporated community surrounding the eponymous lake. It is often confused with Houghton, Michigan, but they are rather far from each other.

To add to the confusion, there is also another lake named Houghton Lake, about an hour northeast of the city of Houghton Lake, but this is not nearly as prominent. Other communities reside on Houghton Lake: the community I come from, Prudenville (on the southeast side) and the Houghton Lake Heights, on the high banks on the south side of the lake (which was a residential area for the local Indian population before it became popular among loggers and vacationers).

But none of these communities are incorporated (meaning they don't have legal standing); the population of the area is under 4,000 and regardless of whether you're from the Heights, Prudenville, or Houghton Lake proper, we all consider ourselves Houghton Lake Bobcats!

Douglass Houghton

Douglass Houghton was the first State Geologist of Michigan. He is most famous for exploring the area around Houghton, Michigan, called the Keewenaw Peninsula. His mineralogical exploration of the copper-rich area helped earn him the title of "Father of copper mining in the United States." Although today, his place in geological history is disputed (he died before releasing his much awaited Final Report to the state of Michigan, and his work may well have been preempted by others), at the time he overshadowed many of his colleagues.

Around 1879, Roscommon Lake became formally known as Houghton Lake, after this man. It was 18 miles from the nearest railroad station, and became a logging encampment. Anyone who visits the area can still see the masses of forest - over 60% of Roscommon County is state-owned forest land, and it is magnificent.