Presque Isle Quarry marks 50th anniversary

A bright blue autumn sky accented the lush green vegetation around one of the largest open pit mines in North America at Presque Isle during the open house celebration on September 17 marking 50 years of continuous operations at the Presque Isle Quarry. A large ring of enormous mining machines and support equipment was assembled on a freshly mown grass plain with poster displays and a big top open-air food tent serving barbequed meat and picnic salads to visitors from the community. One of the guests was 96-year-old Frank Genschaw of Grand Lake. Genschaw retired from the plant in 1971 after 31 years in the business. He worked 20 years in the Rockport plant before joining the Presque Isle operation.

Rockport was the predecessor to the Presque Isle Quarry. Rockport was operated by the Kelly Island Lime and Transport Company and located about 10 miles south on the Lake Huron shoreline. When the Rockport limestone reserves were depleted a rail line was constructed up to Presque Isle where stone was quarried and transported to the plant in Rockport. Construction of a new plant at Presque Isle and the Port of Stoneport began in 1953 and was completed in March 1955 at a cost of approximately $15 million. During the construction period the site produced the caissons for the Mackinaw Bridge in 1954.

THE OPERATION is now called Lafarge-NA Presque Isle Quarry and primarily produces construction materials for road building and ready-mix concrete producers. The mine employs 131 people year-round from surrounding areas. Another open house guest was eight-year-old Kyle Heberling whose dad Joe works in the quarry. The youngster was full of curio

sity and enthusiasm for the mammoth earth moving machines parked on the grounds. Kyle could not resist climbing into a giant wheel well the size of a backyard swimming pool. The metallurgical and aggregate reserves at the Presque Isle Quarry should continue to be extracted for another 50 years at current production levels. The quarry has produced more than 330 million tons to date of high-calcium limestone for blast furnace and open-hearth steel mills. The purpose of the limestone is to help purify molten steel by combining with sulphur and other elements. The flux then rises to the top as slag and is skimmed off.

In 1999, the company added a tertiary crushing circuit to produce a wider range of aggregate materials. This capability allowed the plant to improve the yield in the smaller size range for a growing aggregate market. Despite the level of mechanized operations at the site, the property also is managed by professional environmental personnel such as Ivan Wirgau of Rogers City, who have received numerous awards for their efforts including recognition by the Wildlife Habitat Council and the Alpena Wild Turkey Federation.