 Development of the area did not begin until 1844, when William Burt and Jacob Houghton (the brother of geologist Douglass Houghton) discovered iron deposits near Teal Lake west of Marquette.In 1845, Jackson Mining Company, the first organized mining company in the region, was formed.The village of Marquette began on September 14, 1849, with the formation of a second iron concern, the Marquette Iron Company.