The
mining engineer and geologist Henry H. Hindshaw, of New York City, started the analysis to establish the commercial value of limestone in
Northern Lower Michigan in January 1909. He looked over and evaluated certain properties in the northeastern part of Michigan, between the small lumbering community of
Rogers City and the nearby open pit mine of
Crawford's Quarry. In February, Hindshaw first drilled samples for the
Solvay Process Company of
Syracuse, New York. The limestone samples were found to be of commercially usable quality, so the company took an option to purchase all the surrounding land by the Lake Huron shore south of Rogers City. Hindshaw then returned to New York City and got in contact with William F. White of the White Investing Company. The investor showed an interest in the commercial development of the limestone. Hindshaw originally bought the land with the hope of using the Limestone directly as
building material,
i.e.,
stone facades. That aspiration was misplaced; and was displaced by the realization that this would be marketable as a
commodity for its
chemical composition. Major uses are for various aggregates, road-base stone cement, manufacture flux for iron and steel production, railroad ballast, mine dusting, and lime manufacture. Hindshaw determined the value was high due to the unusually high grade and purity of the limestone deposit underground in the northeastern region of Lower Michigan along the shore of
Lake Huron, near
Alpena and south of Rogers City.
Quarry It is the largest limestone quarry in the world, It has been described as a "man made
Grand Canyon," as it is more than deep. The quarry exploits limestone and dolomite
strata, part of the "
Michigan Basin" and the "Rogers City" geologic unit and strata. This
open pit mine, operating for 110 years since 1912, was at times called "the Calcite Quarry" mines 350 million year old deposits, and has shipped well over of product to customers. Of the on the site, about 3,000 are actively mined. The company predicts the site has reserves that can last 100 years. The quarry is the subject of a well-known
astronaut photo. As the director of the film notes: “Initially I thought, it’s (a documentary) about a quarry,” Belanger said. “But it’s a human story. The quarry of course is limestone, it’s rock, but it’s how this natural resource becomes a driving force for our nation. Much of this limestone was used to build the
Mackinac Bridge, it helped build the
interstate highway system throughout the nation, and it's used in everyday items." Service inside the mine dates back to before 1926. Pictures indicate that the yard was originally serviced by company-owned switching engines.
Trackage included
switches and even two interlocks inside the plant which date back to 1926. The railroad for the quarry is currently serviced by
Lake State Railway, successor to the D&M. Rogers City donated land to create a landmark in celebration of the quarry's centennial. Part of the landmark is a X 6-foot mural made of outdoor tiles created by master potter Guy Adamec from the
Flint Institute of Arts. Part of the design "represent[s] the history of the quarry by depicting layers of quarry strata ranging from the Devonian Period to the current day. This ... [are depicted] in different colors of cement block to show the strata." The
United States Army and
Air Force conduct simulated-fire phases within the Carmeuse Calcite Quarry area during
Exercise Northern Strike. According to the
Oglebay Norton, this quarry is "producing high-calcium carbonate limestone ... and shipping between 7 and 10.5 million net tons (NT) per year, depending on market demand." The operation "produces nine base product sizes, from 5-1/2 inches down to sand-sized particles. These products can be blended together to meet most sizing specifications."
Company Michigan Limestone and Chemical Company was founded in 1910 by White and a few of his investor capitalist colleagues, who purchased a parcel of land of prime limestone deposits from the Rogers City Land Company. It was the lumber industry that had brought the first settlers to the northern area of the
Lower Peninsula of Michigan, around the time of the Civil War. The first pioneer settlers arrived in the Rogers City vicinity in 1869, and they started the Rogers-Molitor Lumber Company. The lumber industry was the backbone of the economy in Rogers City, and Presque Isle County, until the second decade of the 20th century. By that time, most of the forests had been cut down, and the major lumber companies were moving their camps to fresh forests in the
Upper Peninsula of Michigan (and into the nearby states of Wisconsin and Minnesota). Around this time Michigan Limestone and Chemical Company began construction of facilities for mining limestone. White, whose residence was in New York City, served as president of Michigan Limestone and Chemical Company when he filed Articles of Association in the Presque Isle County Clerk's office at Rogers City making the company official on May 26, 1910. The Calcite port and quarry plant started operations in June 1910 and maintained offices in New York City and Rogers City. Hindshaw was the first general manager and was paid $3,500 per year. He was replaced in October by Joseph Jenkins of Alpena, Michigan, who was paid $3,000 a year. Carl D. Bradley of Chicago replaced Jenkins on October 12, 1911. Bradley managed the construction of the limestone processing factory, which included a
powerhouse, stone crusher, screen-house, conveyor power distribution system, a harbor with loading slip, ship loader, repair shop, and executive office building. Steam shovels were purchased for use in mining, and steam locomotives and dump cars were used to move the stone from the quarry to the crusher. A steam locomotive was purchased to haul the limestone from the quarry. There was a spur track built by the company that led into the Calcite operations from the
Detroit & Mackinac Railroad main line just west of
Posen, Michigan. Production at the quarry began in early 1912 and the first cargoes of stone were shipped by
steamer freighters in June of that year. The company received orders for limestone that far exceeded the most optimistic expectations. Most of the stone mined at the Rogers City quarry was shipped on
lake freighters to steel mills located along the lower Great Lakes at places like Detroit, Cleveland, Gary, and South Chicago. For most of the plant's history, its biggest customer was United States Steel (also known as U.S. Steel), the world's largest producer of steel products. Eventually, additional markets were found for the limestone in the agricultural, construction, chemical, and cement industries. The Rogers City area continued to develop and grow as the
Calcite plant facilities grew. Within 20 years, the quarry at Rogers was the world's largest producer of limestone.
U.S. Steel United States Steel Corporation was the first customer of the company. White and his partners were in contact with potential major consumers of limestone even before the company was officially formed. They were in negotiations with several steel companies and other companies that used quantities of limestone and concluded that if they built a massive quarry they would have potential consumers immediately. US Steel signed a contract within months of when the company was officially formed and a year before limestone was actually produced. Iroquois Iron Company of Chicago signed a contract with Michigan Limestone for the purchase of 50,000 tons of limestone. The limestone company was created, at least in part, with the idea that there was a waiting market for their product. US Steel later purchased a controlling interest in Michigan Limestone in 1920 when the company was producing 1,000 tons of crushed limestone a day. Bradley was promoted from general manager to president of Michigan Limestone. He also served as president of Michigan Limestone's fleet of self-unloading ships used to deliver the stone. Those ships were operated as the
Bradley Transportation Company. Michigan Limestone and Bradley Transportation came under the full ownership of U.S. Steel upon Bradley's death in 1928. At that time U.S. Steel purchased all of the stock of both Michigan Limestone and the associated shipping concern, Bradley Transportation, and made both these companies
subsidiaries of U.S. Steel. The company became a
division in 1951 when the operations at Rogers City became U.S. Steel's "Northern District", since the main offices were moved to Detroit. The operation is still a major employer in northern Michigan. Its ownership has changed several times in recent years. ==Uses==