Michigan Limestone and Chemical Company - History

History

About 1908 or 1909, the geologist Henry H. Hindshaw established the commercial value of Northern Michigan's limestone. Limestone is a raw material essential in industry for making steel, chemicals, and cement. Hindshaw determined the value due to the especially high grade and purity of the limestone deposit underground in the northeastern part of Northern Michigan near Alpena just south of Rogers City along the shore of Lake Huron.

The quality of the limestone deposit at Rogers City, the size of the deposit, and the availability of easy water transportation led to the development of the quarry and a port. Both the quarry and the port are named Calcite after the principal ingredient of the stone.

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.

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 grew. Within 20 years, the quarry at Rogers was the world's largest producer of limestone.

United States Steel Corporation purchased a controlling interest in Michigan Limestone in 1920 and Carl D. Bradley was promoted from General Manager to president of Michigan Limestone. Bradley 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 Co.

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. Since 2008 it has been owned by Carmeuse Lime, a major producer of lime-based products.