World's Largest Limestone Quarry

Limestone is a mineral raw material essential in making steel, chemicals, and cement. Henry H. Hindshaw, a geologist, established in 1908-09 the commercial value of this area’s limestone for industry. The high purity of this deposit and the availability of water transportation led to development here of a port and quarry. Both are named Calcite, after the principal ingredient of the stone. The Michigan Limestone and Chemical Company, founded in 1910, began operations in 1912. Purchased by Carl D. Bradley and the United States Steel Corporation in 1920, the company came under the sole ownership of U. S. Steel upon Bradley’s death in 1928. In 1951 the company became a division of the corporation. Self-unloader vessels of the division’s Bradley Transportation Line carry limestone from this, the world’s largest limestone quarry, to industrial ports around the Great Lakes.