Michigan Limestone and Chemical Company
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| Public | |
| Industry | Manufacturing, Mining |
| Founded | 1912 |
| Headquarters | Rogers City, Michigan, USA |
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Key people
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Board of Directors |
| Products | Chemicals, Mineral Products, and other Specialized Products and Services |
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Number of employees
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160 (2008) |
| Website | website |
Michigan Limestone and Chemical Company (a.k.a. "Michigan Limestone") operates the world's largest limestone quarry located near Rogers City, Michigan. It was founded in 1910, however production didn't begin until 1912. Ownership of the quarry has changed a number of times in recent years, but it is still one of the country's largest producers of limestone.The limestone which it uses is found in the limestone deposit underground in the northeastern part of Northern Michigan near Alpena just south of Rogers City along the shore of Lake Huron.
About 1908 or 1909, the geologist Henry H. Hindshaw established the commercial value of limestone in Northern Lower Michigan. Limestone is a raw material essential in industry for making steel, chemicals, and concrete. Hindshaw determined the value due to the especially 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 just south of Rogers City.
The quality and size of the limestone deposit at Rogers City, and the availability of easy water transportation, led to the development of the quarry and a port. Both quarry and port are named Calcite, after Calcite, the principal ingredient of limestone.
Michigan Limestone & Chemical Co. was formed in 1910 by New York investment banker William F. White and a group of investors who purchased a large block of land along the Lake Huron shore just south of the small lumbering community of Rogers (now Rogers City). It was the lumber industry that had brought the first settlers to the Rogers City area around the time of the Civil War. The first settlers arrived at Rogers in 1869 with the establishment of 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 over and the major lumber companies were moving their camps to fresh forests in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and into the states of Wisconsin and Minnesota. It was about that time that Michigan Limestone and Chemical Company began mining limestone.
White, who continued to live in New York City, served as President of Michigan Limestone. In 1911, Carl D. Bradley was hired as General Manager of the Calcite Plant. Bradley oversaw construction of the limestone processing plant, which included a powerhouse, crusher, mill or screenhouse, conveyor distribution system, harbor, loading slip, ship loader, repair shop, and 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. Production at the quarry began in early 1912 and the first cargoes of stone were shipped in June of that year.
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Wikipedia