Ownership of the quarry has changed a number of times, but it is still one of the largest producers of limestone in the United States.

The deposits mined at the quarry are underground in the northeastern part of Northern Michigan near Alpena and south of Rogers City along the shore of Lake Huron.

[A] 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.

[4][5] 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.

[6] 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.

[7] Hindshaw originally bought the land with the hope of using the Limestone directly as building material, i.e., stone facades.

[11] 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.

[14][24] "As proposed, the name Rogers City is applied to limestone and dolomite strata formerly considered part of the Dundee, which is here restricted to lower 140 feet (43 m) of section.

"[24][C] This open pit mine, operating for 110 years since 1912, was at times called "the Calcite Quarry"[14] "Calcite Plant and Mill" and "Carmeuse Lime and Stone",[27] mines 350 million year old deposits, and has shipped well over 750,000,000 tonnes (740,000,000 long tons; 830,000,000 short tons) of product to customers.

[citation needed] Rogers City donated land to create a landmark in celebration of the quarry's centennial.

Part of the landmark is a 6 foot (1.8 m) X 6-foot mural made of outdoor tiles created by master potter Guy Adamec from the Flint Institute of Arts.

"[30] The United States Army and Air Force conduct simulated-fire phases within the Carmeuse Calcite Quarry area during Exercise Northern Strike.

[34] 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."

[36][6] 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.

[37] The lumber industry was the backbone of the economy in Rogers City, and Presque Isle County, until the second decade of the 20th century.

[40] 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.

[41] There was a 14-mile (23 km) spur track built by the company that led into the Calcite operations from the Detroit & Mackinac Railroad main line just west of Posen, Michigan.

[39][42] 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 Rogers City area continued to develop and grow as the Calcite plant facilities grew.

US Steel signed a contract within months of when the company was officially formed and a year before limestone was actually produced.

[48] 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.

[49] 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.

[55] The Calcite was used to haul limestone from the company's quarry at Rogers City to Buffalo and Fairport, New York.

[57] All the steamships' hulls were painted grey to minimize the appearance of the limestone dust that accumulated during loading and unloading.

This allows the material to drop onto a conveyor belt running the length of the ship beneath the "cargo hold."

The unloading swing boom hangs over the ship's side to discharge the material load onto the waiting customer's dock.

The advantage of self-unloaders is that they can deliver the limestone material directly to a customer's dock without requiring expensive shoreside unloading rigs.

[11] The SS Carl D. Bradley was lost in a storm in November 1958 while returning from delivering a load of limestone; 33 of the 35 crewmembers died, most of whom lived in or around the small town of Rogers City.

The plant mines, processes and ships limestone via freighters on the Great Lakes, which haul the raw materials to the next location."