After the rock was crushed, sorted and washed, it was ready to be shipped. A powerful cable would pull the many rock-laden carts along the pier that was constructed out into Lake Michigan. At the end of the pier, ships would wait for their cargoes of limestone. Some of the crushed stone was also old locally, and trucks were used to haul this material.
After reaching its destination the limestone was used primarily in roadbeds. Smaller amounts were also sold as riprap and as flux to help the fusion of metals in blast furnaces.
As time passed, washed gravel was found to be cheaper than crushed stone for roadbed construction. Crushed stone was no longer competitive. In 1925 the directors decided to dissolve the Lake Shore Company and the property was sold. Water soon filled the quarry since no pumps were working. An era had ended.
As one looks at Quarry Lake today, with its beautiful forested shores and sheer rock walls, and hears songbirds and wind blowing through the treetops, it is hard to believe that all of this activity once occurred here.
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